The trouble with conventions
by Neuropsych
Summary: A convention in Buffalo and Castle wants to go so bad
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of the other characters in this story unless they are characters that I made up to help the story along. I'm not making any money off the story either, so don't sue me!_

_Author's note: I know you guys are used to having me write Stargate stories so this will be something new that's for sure. Hopefully it turns out to be a good story. I really do like Castle, so here we go!_

_**The Trouble with Conventions**_

"We should celebrate."

Beckett turned to look over at Richard Castle, who was grinning from ear to ear and looking as smug as hell. She frowned.

"I'm going to celebrate by going home and taking a bath."

"But we solved the biggest crime of the century."

"It was a simple stab and grab."

"But we solved it."

"And now I'm going to _celebrate_ with a nice bath."

"Hey!" They both turned and saw Ryan and Esposito walking over, looking just as smug as Castle. "Where are we going to celebrate?"

Castle's smile grew even more at the annoyed look on Beckett's face. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine. Gregory's in half an hour."

OOOOOOOOOO

The place wasn't classy, but they liked that. First of it because they didn't have to dress up unless they wanted to, but even better because people weren't always coming up to Castle because they recognized him from one of the many social events he'd attended in the last several years. Sure there was an occasional book lover or autograph seeker, but they were usually pretty quick to get what they wanted and go, and Castle was gracious about it, but never let the conversation go beyond a few niceties, which was a way of encouraging them to get what they wanted and go.

It was also a place where other cops hung out. A few of them greeted Beckett as she walked in the door and she knew that word had spread fast when some of the greetings included congratulations about the quick arrest that her team had made. She couldn't help but smile, because they really had solved the case quickly, and that always made her feel good. Even better, there was no doubt that they had the right guy, and they'd made sure that there wouldn't be any way for him to weasel out on a technicality.

She hesitated only for a moment before seeing that the others had beaten her and were saving a table. Walking over she sat across from Castle, who had already ordered a round of drinks for them.

"So another case solved," Ryan said with a smile.

"And just in time to make the convention," added Esposito.

Castle looked over at them, not noticing that Beckett had just scowled at them and made a slashing motion across her throat that plainly meant she hadn't wanted to discuss this.

"What convention?"

"The one in Buffalo," replied Ryan.

Esposito grinned, ignoring the death look he was getting from Beckett.

"She didn't tell you?"

"It's a law enforcement convention," Ryan told him, also ignoring the fact that she was shooting daggers at both of them, now. "Cops all over the Northeast will be there."

His eyes widened like a child on Christmas morning.

"You mean they really have those things?" Castle asked. "I thought it was just something they made up for Police Academy 4."

"_Five_," Esposito corrected.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I've seen it a million times."

"Wow…" he looked over at Beckett, who tried to hide her annoyance. "When is it?"

"I don't-"

"Tuesday," Ryan said, interrupting. "Three days of nothing but cops as far as you can see."

If it was possible, Castle looked even more excited.

"Can I come?"

Beckett scowled.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Aww, come on. Please?"

"No."

"Why not?" There was actual desperation in his voice, and he had some serious sad puppy eyes going on just then.

She ignored them.

"Do you know how much crap I get from the cops around here for having you shadowing me?"

He hesitated.

"A little…?"

"A _lot_. And that's from the ones who know me. Can you even _imagine_ what I would have to put up with if I arrived with you on my tail?"

"It'll be fun," he told her. "You can tell them I'm your protégé."

"You're not."

"What do they know?"

"They're _detectives_," Esposito reminded him. "They'd probably figure it out."

Ryan snorted.

He grew quiet for a minute, and then his eyes lit up as he tried another tactic. She steeled herself without allowing it to show.

"I'll even fly you there."

"What?"

"I'll fly you there. To Buffalo."

"I have a plane ticket. And a room. You don't have either."

"I can get a room, and I don't _need_ a ticket. Neither do you. I can fly you there."

"You're a pilot?" Esposito asked.

"You have a _plane_?"

"No, I can rent one when I need one, though." He never took his eyes from Beckett, trying to figure out if he even had a chance. "It'll be fun. Really."

She scowled again.

"No."


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett sighed in pleasure when she lowered herself into the steaming tub. The water was a little hotter than she preferred, but she needed it, she'd decided, and it only took a moment for the hot water to start relaxing muscles that were way too tight. She closed her eyes and leaned back, ready for nothing more serious than the smell of strawberry bath powder and the taste of a moderately priced bottle of wine that she kept around for just this kind of day.

Castle had driven her crazy most of the evening, and she didn't feel at all guilty that she'd already downed half the glass while waiting for the bath to fill. He'd done everything he could to get her to change her mind about taking him to the convention, and she'd turned every effort aside with a well-placed 'no'. Every now and then she'd throw in a stern expression – and even a scowl or two for Esposito and Ryan, who had obviously been enjoying themselves immensely as they watched the verbal sparring. Of course, _they_ weren't going to the convention, so what did it matter to them? _She_ hadn't really wanted to go, either, but Montgomery had made it clear that someone was going to go to represent his precinct and she was that someone.

Even worse, he'd offered her up as a presenter for one of the forums on how to deal with forensic specialists, since she got along so well with the ones they had. Which meant that now she _couldn't_ cancel. The speech was written, the outfit picked out and she'd even had Lanie give her some notes on a few of the cases that they'd worked together in case she needed examples. It was a done deal.

And would be a welcomed break from having a certain writer following her around.

She had just taken another sip of the wine when the phone rang, startling her so badly that she sloshed some of it into the bathwater. Looking over at her cell phone, she knew what the name would be on the caller ID before she even picked it up.

"He _never_ gives _up_…" she muttered, drying her hand off before reaching for the phone and answering it without looking. "I said_ no."_

"Excuse me?"

She sat up when she realized that the voice wasn't Castle's after all.

"_Captain_. Hi. Sorry."

"Are you busy, Beckett?"

She wasn't busy but she was suddenly very annoyed, but not at Montgomery. The little weasel had gone running to the _Captain_! Or maybe to his buddy the _mayor_ who had passed the buck down to Montgomery.

"No. Just…" she looked down at herself and resisted the urge to get a towel and cover up. "I'm not busy. What's up?"

Like she didn't already know.

"I was just wondering if you're ready for your presentation."

She wasn't fooled for a moment.

"Yes, sir, it's all set to go."

"Good."

Not being one to beat around the bush, Beckett couldn't stop herself when she asked her next question, and she couldn't keep the annoyance out of her tone.

"Did Castle call you?"

"About what?"

Which brought her up short as she tried to decide if he was messing with her or not.

"Beckett?"

"Uh, nothing, sir."

"It must be _something_ for you to be so annoyed."

He wasn't trying to hide his own annoyance, now. If there was one thing her captain hated; that was something going on with his people that he didn't know about. She mentally berated herself for even asking – although there had been good reason to believe that Castle had gone straight from Gregory's to the captain.

"It's nothing, sir," she told him again. "Castle found out about the convention."

"And wants to go?"

He didn't sound surprised.

"Yes."

"And you told him no?"

Again, no surprise.

"Right."

"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Surprised, she didn't even have a chance to tell him goodbye before he hung up. She'd honestly expected him to argue on Castle's behalf. If she was honest with herself, she maybe had almost _hoped_ that he would – but not all _that_ much, really.

Relieved, she put the phone back on the towel it had been sitting on and leaned back and closed her eyes once more. All was well in Beckettland, after all.

OOOOOOOO

She arrived early to work the next morning, feeling rested and refreshed despite the fact that she'd stayed in the bath much later than she'd intended and consequently it had cut into the sleep she was able to get. Early enough that the guys weren't in, and she was able to make it to her desk without hearing anything about the convention.

But it didn't last long.

"Beckett!"

She turned, surprised, and saw Montgomery standing in the doorway to his office.

"Yeah?"

"Come in here a minute," he said, turning and going into the office so she didn't really have any choice but to go.

Bah.

She had a feeling she wasn't going to like it – whatever _it_ was – before she walked in, and when she saw the Mayor sitting on the edge of Montgomery's desk she stopped cold.

"Mr – Mr. Mayor. Good morning."

He smiled.

"Good morning, Detective Beckett," he greeted her.

"Cup of coffee, Beckett?" Montgomery asked.

She frowned, confused, and shook her head.

"No, thank you, sir."

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here, Detective," the Mayor told her. "It's pretty early, after all."

"Uh, yes, sir."

"I had an interesting call from Captain Montgomery last night." Beckett looked over the Mayor's shoulder, but Montgomery was studiously avoiding her gaze. "About the convention you're going to tomorrow."

She couldn't think of anything to say. So she just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Yes, sir…?"

"We were thinking that if Castle accompanied you it might give us a bit more press than we'd normally get in such a situation," he continued, smoothly. "Not to mention it would be a good way for _him_ to get more ideas for his next book."

"But-"

"Captain Montgomery tells me that you informed him that Rick already _wants_ to go, so I think it'd be great if that happened. Don't you?"

There was only one answer to that, and she knew it. With a purely mental sigh, she nodded her defeat.

"Yes, sir."

His smile was broad and as bright as the morning sun.

"Good! Why don't you let him know? That way it doesn't seem like _we_ set it up?"

She glanced over at Montgomery with a look that plainly said she was going to get even eventually, but he had turned to look at something down on the street outside his window, avoiding her eyes.

"Yes, sir."


	3. Chapter 3

The drive from the station to Castle's wasn't that far, even by New York, standards, but she had a chance to cool off a bit by the time she arrived. Furious and frustrated when she left the precinct, by the time she rang the bell she was more resigned than anything – and aware that if Montgomery was the one at fault in this instance, as it appeared he _was_, then she had no fair reason to take her annoyance out on Castle.

Martha answered the door, looking as suave as ever despite the early hour. She smiled when she saw who it was.

"Detective Beckett, good morning."

Beckett returned the smile, feeling the last of the anger that had ridden shotgun with her on the way to apartment fade. Martha really was a nice person and she liked her.

"Hi, Martha."

"Come in!" She moved aside and ushered Beckett into the room without giving her a choice. "Richard's upstairs."

"Okay."

Leading the way into the kitchen, she looked over her shoulder.

"Coffee?"

"Please."

"Richard! Detective Beckett's here!"

There was a faint reply, and Martha pulled a coffee mug down from the cupboard and poured a cup of coffee which she deposited on the counter in front of the detective.

"Is everything all right?"

Beckett nodded, taking a sip. It was good – like always.

"I'm just tendering an invitation."

Martha smiled.

"To the _convention_?"

"You heard about it?"

She rolled her eyes, her smile broadening to a grin.

"It's all he was talking about when he came home last night. I was under the impression that you had told him he _couldn't_ go…"

It was more a question than a statement, and Beckett couldn't help but feel a flash of annoyance toward Montgomery once more.

"I did."

"But…?"

"I was overruled."

"Oh?"

Before she could answer Castle came trotting down the stairs. He grinned when he saw her.

"Detective Beckett. Good morning!"

She managed a smile that probably didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Good morning."

His smile faded.

"Everything okay? You look annoyed. What did I do?"

He was a very perceptive guy, she knew, but she was stilled chagrined by the fact that he could read her so well.

"Nothing."

"She's here to invite you to the convention," Martha told him, to let Beckett off the hook. "So be nice."

With that, the older woman left the room with her cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. Castle turned to look at the detective.

"Really?"

"Yes."

He frowned.

"You changed your mind?"

"It was changed _for_ me."

He caught on immediately, and put both hands up in surrender.

"_I_ didn't do anything, I swear."

That actually made her smile.

"I know."

He grinned, looking relieved – and excited once more.

"I _really_ get to come?"

It was her turn to roll her eyes.

"It's not going to be _that_ exciting, you know? A lot of boring lectures and workshops."

"Some hands on stuff?"

She shrugged.

"Yes, probably."

"It'll be fun!"

His enthusiasm was infectious and she couldn't help but smile. Maybe it would be, at that.

"You'll need to get a room, though. Good luck."

He waved that problem aside with a casual sweep of his hand.

"So should I rent that airplane?"

She frowned.

"You were serious?"

"About flying you? Absolutely."

She'd never heard anything before about him being able to fly.

"I think I'll pass."

"I'm a _good_ pilot, really." He smiled again. "Come on, it'll be fun. I'll even let you fly the plane."

She was wavering and he could tell. Which made him try even harder.

"You won't have to watch what you pack," he added. "No weight limit. _And_ no security check."

"No _strip search_?" she asked, enjoying the banter – and the chance to mess with him. "Too bad."

He groaned, miming a stab wound in the heart.

"Missed my chance."

"Let me see your pilot's license," she said, holding out her hand.

"Really?"

"I'm not saying _yes_," she told him. "Just let me see it."

He pulled out his wallet and rifled through it for a moment and pulled out a piece of paper that was a little battered. Handing it over with a grin, he watched her expectantly as she looked at it carefully, as if trying to decide if it was real. It looked real – and he'd had it a long time.

She glanced over to him.

"You won't get us lost?"

"Nope. I've flown to Buffalo before."

She handed the license back to him.

"Fine. Rent the plane."

Now his smile was broad.

"Great! You won't be sorry."

She rolled her eyes again.

"I already am."


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's note: I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it so far! This chapter might seem a little boring, though – at least at first. It's hard to make airplanes exciting, after all._

OOOOOOOOOOO

_"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Castle Air. Please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened and your seats are fully upright. The flight time for today's trip is about 3 hours with a maximum cruising altitude of about 5000 feet. The temperature here in New York is a slightly chilly 45 degrees, with no clouds and very little wind. The temperature in Buffalo is a little cooler at 42 degrees, but it'll be warmer by the time we reach our destination…"_

Beckett couldn't help but look over at Castle as she made sure the seatbelt was securely fastened.

"You _sound_ like you know what you're doing…"

He turned off the microphone on his headset and winked at her.

"Saw it on a movie."

"That's _not_ what I wanted to hear, Castle."

"I'm just kidding. We _do_ have a couple things to go over before we take off, though…"

He spent the next half hour going over the flight plan with her and answering her questions about the flight – including why they weren't flying in a beeline to Buffalo from New York and were instead heading straight west for most of the flight and then turning due north.

"To stay out of the established flight paths of the commercial airlines."

She'd frowned.

"We're going to be a lot lower than they are, though. Even the puddle jumper I had been planning on taking would have been."

"We're lower than they are when they're at _flight level_," he'd corrected. "But when they're ascending and descending then we'd be in trouble."

"I didn't think of that," she'd admitted.

"Which is why _I'm_ the pilot and _you_ are the passenger."

Which had actually given her a lot more confidence in his abilities. He certainly _sounded_ like he knew what he was talking about.

"Ready_?"_ he finally asked, turning on his headset once more.

She only hesitated a moment before shrugging and nodding.

"Yeah."

"Put your headset on and don't say anything until I tell you that you can, okay?"

"Okay."

She did what he told her and kept quiet as she listened to him speaking to the person in the small control tower that overlooked the private airport. Under his watchful eye Castle taxied the plane – which she now knew was a Cessna Stationair 206 – out to the end of the small runway, and after a very short wait he revved up the engine and they took off with only a small bump as they took to the air.

"You can open your eyes, now…"

She hadn't realized he'd noticed. Beckett opened her eyes and looked down, surprised by how far up in the air they already were.

"Wow."

He grinned, not at all offended.

"Pretty neat, huh?"

She surprised herself by echoing the smile as she looked around. It was a lot different in a small plane than it was in a commercial plane. More intimate, for one thing. Like there was nothing between her and the air around them. She wished there were clouds so she could see what that looked like, too.

"Yeah." She looked over at him. "Do you bring Alexis and your mom up often?"

He shook his head.

"They're both afraid of flying. Which is why I'm so glad you were willing to let me fly you."

"I'm impressed."

"I'm a very impressive guy, Detective," he told her. "I thought you knew that by now."

She chose to ignore that, watching as they flew over one suburb after another until they were finally flying over a more sparsely populated area than the one they were both more used to.

"It looks a lot nicer from up here…" she murmured.

"Another reason I love to fly," he replied, causing her to look over at him once more. There wasn't any sign of his usual cockiness or arrogance, which made her smile once more.

He didn't seem to be looking for any conversation, though, and truth be told, she wasn't, either. Instead they both watched, lost in their own private thoughts, as even the less sparsely populated areas fell behind them and now they were starting to fly over some of the outskirts of the wilderness areas of Pennsylvania.

After about half an hour he spoke up, startling her.

"Wanna handle the stick?"

"_Excuse_ me?"

He grinned, knowing she'd take that the wrong way. He'd phrased it that way on purpose. The plane didn't actually have a stick. It had a steering wheel of sorts.

"Wanna fly it?"

She hesitated.

"I probably shouldn't."

"Why not? It's easy."

"You don't mind?"

"Of course not." His smile was all reassuring, now. "Come on, you just hold it and I'll tell you what to do. Simple stuff."

She reached out and took hold of the controls in front of her, looking over at his hands to see how he was holding them and duplicating it.

"Perfect." Castle took his hands away from the controls and lifted them up and away. "You have the bridge, Number One."

She ignored that.

"What do I do?"

"Well, we're supposed to be going in a straight line," he told her. "But if you don't mind being a little late checking in at the hotel we can do a few maneuvers so you can see what it's like…"

She nodded.

"Okay."

He pointed out the horizontal indicator.

"Make sure that stays steady, but turn the controls a little and we'll turn."

She did, and they did. Which made her smile. She was flying!

"Now play a little. Just don't make any sudden motions. Everything should be steady and slow. Push forward to go lower, pull back to go higher. Just like a flight simulator."

For about twenty minutes Beckett found herself in complete control of the small plane, turning left or right, making full, wide, circles and even going higher and lower – wherever she wanted. It was fun, and she could definitely see why he enjoyed it. She was starting to think that maybe she needed to think about getting herself a pilot's license when he told her that they'd better get on with their trip.

"The weather's still pretty good, but we don't want to be too late," he told her. "Wouldn't do to have the star speaker miss her speech."

"My presentation is for the last day," she pointed out. "And it's hardly an important one."

She waited for him to take control of the plane back, but he shook his head.

"You're doing fine, just turn us north."

Since she knew how to do that, now, she did, and they now had the sun on their left, shining brightly through the windows of the cockpit. Below them was nothing but trees as far as she could see, aside from the occasional glint of water. She hadn't realized there was so much wilderness in the east, still.

"How far are we from Buffalo?" she asked.

He shrugged, reaching for the GPS and a map. "I'll have to refigure our flight," he told her. "But an hour or so, probably."

They'd gone off their course a bit playing around, but it wasn't that big of a deal. He'd done it himself tons of times. That was what the GPS was for, after all.

"Then how-"

She was interrupted by a sudden popping noise that seemed abnormally loud in the small craft.

He looked at the instrument panel, frowning.

"What was-"

Suddenly the panel went dead, and everything was quiet. Including the engine drone that they'd been listening to the entire trip.

"Castle?"

He reached out and grabbed the controls.

"I got it."

"What-"

"Hold on."

The plane was suddenly going down. Not in a sudden drop, but far more quickly than when she'd been playing with it. Beckett felt a flare of alarm and looked over at him.

He looked alarmed, too. But not panicked.

"We've lost everything," he told her. "That's impossible."


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: I do a lot of cliffhangers sometimes, but I try not to make you wait for the next installment when I do, because I'd hate to wait, too._

OOOOOOOOOOOO

He tapped a couple of the controls on the main panel, but nothing lit up. Beckett looked down; the trees were a lot more defined than they had been.

"We're going down…"

"I know." He toggled a switch above their heads, the one she saw him use when he was speaking to the tower back at the airport.

"_Mayday, Mayday,"_ his voice was a lot calmer than hers would have been. Especially since her heart was lodged somewhere in her throat. _"This is N7145 out of New York's Allentown Airport. We are declaring an emergency and ditching. Mayday, Mayday, repeat, we are declaring an emergency…"_

He might have said more, but the plane suddenly lurched and he had his hands filled trying to bring it back into line.

"Hold on!"

She didn't know what to hold onto. She watched as he looked around below them, and somehow managed to keep their flight level – although they were still definitely going down.

"Can you swim?"

"What?"

"Can you _swim_!?"

She looked down and saw that there was a small body of water a short distance in front of them.

"Are you nuts!?"

"_Can you swim?"_ he snapped.

"Yes!"

"Water or trees…" he muttered, still looking around for an airstrip to magically appear out of nowhere.

"Water."

Her breathing was short and her hands were clammy. She'd never felt – or _been_ – more helpless.

"Yeah." He fought the plane again and somehow it turned just enough to be lined up with the lake. He looked over at her, and aside from a beading of sweat on his forehead he was remarkably composed considering they were probably going to die any minute. "Sullenberger landed in the _Hudson_… this plane's a lot smaller than that."

She kept her mouth shut, thinking that the lake looked a lot smaller than the Hudson.

He looked over at her, then slapped a red button on the control area and looked at her again. But he wasn't looking at _her_, she realized, because he reached over and grabbed a red tab on the side of her seat. He yanked it and she suddenly felt her seatbelts tightening – the one across her lap as well as the one that was holding her body to the seat. Looking down she realized that it had suddenly inflated somehow. He repeated the process with his own and then met her gaze for just a moment before he turned his full attention back to what he was doing.

"Brace yourself…"

With the seatbelt inflated she couldn't move if she wanted to. She put her hand on the edge of her seat and tried very hard to breathe. The water was getting closer and closer, and the plane seemed to be picking up speed – although the air speed indicator was blank so she didn't know for certain that it wasn't her imagination.

The lake was probably 15 miles long or so. A fairly large one for the area – unless you were trying to use it as a parking lot. It loomed closer and closer until he was actually flying just above the trees at the very edge. Then he forced the nose down to avoid over-flying it and crashing into the trees on the other end.

There was an incredible noise when they first touched the water. It stopped immediately and Beckett was vaguely aware that they had bounced. Just as she reached that realization they hit again, this time even harder. The cockpit window buckled in and water came rushing at them, but with a curse that she'd never heard him use, Castle managed to wrestle the controls back and the nose came out once more.

Just as she thought they were starting to slow down and it might have worked, the water had a final say and a backwash from their impact slammed into the front, causing the entire craft to turn abruptly and cartwheel.

Everything that wasn't bolted down or held down with straps was suddenly flying around them as she felt them turn upside down for a moment and then crash back into the water. She heard a gasp, realized that it came from her, and suddenly they were still.

Amazingly, Castle reached out and unhooked her seatbelt.

_"Go!"_

She didn't make him say it twice.

Water pressure was keeping the door on her side closed, but the front end of the plane was already starting to sink back into the water, and with the cockpit window gone it wouldn't take long for it to fill completely. She forced the door open and a wave of ice-cold water washed over both of them.

With another gasp she untangled herself from the seatbelt and jumped as far from the plane as she could.

"Castle!"

"_Go!"_

He was moving inside the plane, but she couldn't tell if he was tangled or if he was following.

"Get out of there!"

She couldn't leave him.

"I'm coming!" he yelled.

"Hurry!"

She was treading water, now, but her body had already started to cramp from the cold despite the clothes she had on.

The entire front end of the plane was just starting to disappear under the water and Beckett was just about ready to swim over to help him when a large bright yellow case was tossed out of the destroyed back pilot's side door. A moment later she saw him follow it. He turned in the water and saw her, and gestured for the closest shoreline.

She waited only long enough to make sure he was away from the plane before obeying that emphatic gesture and striking out for the rocky shore. Dragging the yellow case behind him, Castle followed.

It wasn't that far but it seemed like it was taking her forever. He was a stronger swimmer than she was, because he managed to catch up with her fairly quickly, and even with the case that he refused to let go, he was still able to lend her a little assistance when she started to falter in the cold water.

"Here…" he wheezed, pushing the case toward her. "Hold that."

She grabbed it automatically, and then felt his arm go around her. He pulled her against his body and she could feel the warmth of his exertions immediately. Too tired to resist, she allowed him to pull her into the shore, dragging the yellow case behind them.

Only a few minutes later she felt ground below them and he staggered as her weight suddenly drove him down. She wriggled out of his grasp, and now she was the one who took hold of him with her free arm and helped him out of the water and onto the only area she could see that was free of rocks.

Only when they were both on dry land did she drop to the ground, panting and shivering. He went down beside her, sprawled in a heap and shivering.

"You okay?" she asked, dredging up enough energy to lift her head and look out over the lake. The only part of the plane she could see was the tip of one of the wings, and as she watched it slowly sank below the water, leaving a lot of air bubbles and nothing else.

"Yeah…"

She closed her eyes, still trying to catch her breath. Before she could fight it, blackness came up and caught her in its grip and she passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

The sound of a shot rang out from somewhere close by, bringing her around abruptly. She sat up, reaching for her gun before she remembered what happened and that she didn't have her gun.

"Hey…"

She looked over, still more than a little out of it, and saw Castle standing on the other side of a roaring fire. She frowned, wondering if she'd hit her head or something, because it looked like he was wearing a silver blanket draped over his shoulders and nothing else. She looked down at herself and saw that she had been covered with a thin silver blanket, too. And she was warm.

"Hey."

She stood up, and almost fell back down. Not only did she ache from head to toe but her head was also spinning.

He was beside her instantly, a steadying hand under her elbow as he guided her over to a large dead log and told her to sit down.

"Give yourself a minute," he told her. He made sure she wasn't going to fall over and then went and picked up the silver blanket and draped it back over her shoulder. "And keep that on for now."

She'd been right about the silver blanket – which she now recognized as an emergency blanket – but he wasn't naked, he was wearing a pair of boxers. And _only_ a pair of boxers. The rest of his clothes were hanging over a couple of tree limbs on the edge of the fire area. Presumably to dry. The bright yellow case he'd practically died to retrieve from the plane was near her, open, and she saw that it must be some kind of emergency kit. A quick glance showed a wide array of items, but she turned her attention from it to him, looking him over for injuries.

There was a nasty welt running across his chest and side. It was in the same place that the safety belt would have been on the plane so there was no doubt what had caused it. There was also a bruised area on this cheek and a lot of scrapes above his left eye - probably from the cockpit window. The water had cleaned them out while they were swimming, but it looked painful and raw.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded, and turned back to the branches he'd been breaking up. It hadn't been a shot that had woken her, after all.

"Yeah. Just beat up. How do you feel?"

"I ache."

"That's it?"

She shrugged, taking a mental tally on how she was doing.

"I think so."

"You need to get out of those clothes so we can get them dry," he told her.

The blanket was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing; catching the heat of the fire and reflecting it back to her, but the clothes she was wearing were still very wet from the dunking in the lake and a while she was warm now, they'd be chilly later when the sun went down if she didn't get them dry. He was right.

Still a little less than at full faculties, she started to pull off her shirt, and he turned his back to give her privacy. Which made it all the more surreal for her, because under normal circumstances she'd have expected a smart remark at the least and a sudden burst of amateur porn music at the worst.

"Just wrap up in that blanket when you're done," he told her without looking around. "And I'll put your clothes with mine. They'll stink, but they'll be a lot warmer."

She stripped out of her pants and blouse, but like he had, she left her underclothes on. It was awkward enough as it was, after all. Wrapping the emergency blanket back around her, she told him he could turn around.

As he gathered up her clothes and hung them with his own, she thought back to the wreck.

"What did I do wrong?" she asked him.

He shook his head, and brought her over a pack of aspirin and a little metal cup with water.

"Nothing. I was watching you."

"Planes don't just _crash_, Castle," she told him, downing the pills gratefully.

"A simple course change doesn't make the power go off, either," he replied, sitting carefully down with a hand pressed against his ribs while the other held his blanket over his shoulders. "_Nothing_ makes the power shut down like that. We didn't just lose _one_ system, we lost everything, and that just doesn't happen…"

"Poor maintenance?"

He shook his head.

"I've used it before. It's always been in top condition. Every system has a redundancy in case something happens to the main ones…"

His cut face was about as serious as she'd ever seen him, and she looked for something to say that might lighten the mood a little.

"_Inflatable_ seatbelts?"

He smiled, glancing over at her.

"They probably saved your life."

"No. _You_ saved my life. That was some seriously fancy flying."

If she hadn't been so close to him, she wouldn't have noticed him flush. He turned back to the fire, uncomfortable. Which made her smile.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he told her. "Both literally and figuratively. I'm pretty sure the radio was knocked out when everything else went, and that means no one heard me broadcast the Mayday. The emergency beacon might be active, I don't know, but I don't know how long it'll work under water – or even if it will. I had to manually inflate the belts, which could mean that it might not have even kicked in."

"They're going to notice when we don't show up."

He shrugged.

"We aren't on the flight plan that I filed," he reminded her. "Alexis _might_ get worried when I don't check in with her tonight, but she might think I'm just enjoying myself and forgot. So she won't realize anything is wrong until at least tomorrow – if not later than that. _Your_ presentation isn't until the last day, so they won't really miss you until then – unless you had plans to meet up with anyone in particular?"

She shook her head.

"No."

"So it'll be a few days before they come looking – and they won't be looking in the right spot to start."

"We'll be okay."

"I know."

She sighed, looking out over the water.

"It could be a lot worse."

That earned a smile.

"Yeah."

She studied his profile for a moment, thinking that he looked pretty tired. Of course, she'd rested while he'd managed to set up a rudimentary campsite – complete with a good fire that would make all the difference later on when it started to get cold that night.

"What's in the box?"

He looked over at it.

"Three days worth of emergency supplies for six people. First aid kit, emergency kit – and a flare gun we might be able to use if we see anyone searching."

That wasn't bad. There were only two of them, after all. The supplies would keep them alive while they waited. They were lucky he'd kept his head when they'd crashed and had rescued it. Before she could mention that, though, he spoke up again.

"I think I saw a road as we were going down. It's probably nothing more than a forest service road – and I'm not even sure how far away it is – but we might get lucky and meet up with someone up here fishing or camping."

"Or hunting?"

He frowned and looked over at her.

"Hunting?"

"There _are_ wild animals up here, Castle," she reminded him.

Both of them looked over at the woods behind them, and she wondered if he'd just had a vision of a bear or cougar or something coming out of the forest and finding two unarmed people just sitting around a fire in their underwear.

"Tell me you have your gun…" he said, confirming that.

She shook her head.

"I didn't bring it."

She didn't mention that even if she had brought it, it'd have been in her luggage, which was almost certainly at the bottom of the lake in the plane.

"We're going to get eaten."

OOOOOOOOOOO

_Author's Note: So this story has obviously taken a turn that I didn't announce (because that would have spoiled the surprise of it) but now there are a few different directions I can take the storyline. In my Stargate stories I often asked people what they want to see, and I don't see any reason to change that for this – as long as it's something I'm willing to write. So here is the question for you guys: do I turn it into a hurt comfort story? I see that there are a lot of those out there, and wonder if that's because people like it, or is it annoying? I will let you know that it won't go into a serious shippiness story because there is more I might want to do with it in the future (as in with other stories) so I don't want to make anything too permanent happen. So let me know if that's what you want, and I'll consider it. Also let me know who you want to be the hurt one, if we do indeed go that direction…_


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Note: Thanks for the input, guys. We'll see where it goes!_

OOOOOOOOOO

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

Alexis sighed and looked over at her grandmother.

"Dad hasn't called yet."

Martha smiled, and took hold of her granddaughter's chin.

"He's probably getting settled in."

Alexis gave her a knowing look, and Martha shrugged.

"_Or_ he could be a bit distracted and forgot."

The young woman smirked.

"I'll be lucky if he calls at _all_ this week," she pointed out. "He's with Detective Beckett, after all."

"He loves _you_," Martha reminded her. "_Nothing_ is more important to him – _or_ to me."

She was long past the time when she was insecure and needed such reassurances. And very used to putting up with her father's somewhat erratic behavior. But she _did_ smile at the reminder, well aware that when everyone else was shouting for her father's attention at an event all she ever needed to do was simply make a gesture or a comment, and he was there for her.

"I know. Besides, I like Detective Beckett."

"He _invited_ you to go with them."

"I know."

"_You_ said you didn't want to go."

She rolled her eyes, smiling.

"I _know_."

"He'll call when he has a chance," Martha assured her. "It just might not be today, is all."

Or tomorrow, for that matter.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Any luck?"

Castle shook his head, looking down at the ruined cell phone in his hand. It had been in his pocket when they'd crashed, but the dunking had done more damage than the crash. He tried it before Beckett woke up, and when it hadn't worked then, he'd set it by the fire hoping that it just needed to be dried out. Now he'd been fiddling with it for the last few minutes as they'd sat and waited for their clothes to dry, but it wasn't looking good.

"It's dead."

He tossed it into the yellow case; dead or not there were a lot of pictures on there he didn't want to lose. The memory card was probably still intact, after all.

"Now you don't have my number."

He glanced over at her, realized she was teasing him, and managed a slight smile.

"I have it _memorized_."

"Smart ass."

He shook himself out of the blanket and draped it over her shoulders to join the other one and hauled himself to his feet, moving stiffly. His shoes – as well as hers – had been placed close to the fire to dry, and he slipped into his. With thousand dollar loafers and only a pair of boxers, he was hardly Daniel Boone, but it didn't matter. It wasn't that difficult a chore to gather wood, after all. There was a lot of dead stuff littering the area.

"Want help?"

"You're not really dressed for it," he pointed out.

"And you are?"

He looked down at himself.

"I run around in my underwear all the time. What about you?"

Good point. _She'd_ help when their clothes were dry.

He smirked and turned back to what he was doing, walking slowly and stiffly and occasionally looking out over the lake as he gathered up some of the larger branches.

"Watch out for bears," she told him, wrapping the emergency blanket a little tighter when a slight breeze kicked up.

He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Cute."

She smiled, innocently. _She_ wasn't Daniel Boone any more than he was, but she'd read somewhere that fire would keep wild animals away, so she wasn't all that concerned, really.

As she watched, he brought several armloads of wood over and started breaking them up into more manageable pieces. She wondered where he was getting the energy – especially since she felt worn out and hadn't even been doing anything. After about an hour, he had a huge stack, and had managed to scratch himself in several other places.

"Take a break, Castle," she told him, getting up and walking over to check on their clothes. They were dry enough now, although they definitely smelled like smoke. "You're going to be really stiff later if you're not careful."

"Yeah."

She handed him his clothes and pointedly waited for him to turn around again so she could get dressed. He grinned, rolled his eyes and turned around to give her her privacy.

"So where do you think we are?" she asked him as she dressed. He slipped off his shoes so he could get dressed, too.

"_Pennsylvania_."

She snorted.

"I knew _that_ much. You had more time to look at the map, though. Any idea where we might be?"

"Allegheny forest," he answered without much time for consideration. She decided he'd already been pondering the very same question. "It's the biggest green area on the map, so that'd be my guess."

She'd thought they were in the big green area, too. Which had looked isolated on the map, but was even more so in real life, apparently.

Dressed and feeling much better for being covered up, she pulled on her shoes, glad that she had decided to wear flats and not sandals.

"Okay."

Taking that as permission to turn around, he peeked over his shoulder to confirm she was dressed and then headed back for the log where she'd left the two emergency blankets.

"If they heard my Mayday they'd have started looking for us by now. That means that the emergency beacon probably isn't working."

"Why? Because they'd have found us by now?"

"Right. We're not _that_ far from civilization, after all."

Not by plane, anyway. On foot they'd be walking for days – even weeks, depending on where they were. Presuming they didn't get lost and go in circles. It wasn't really an option.

"Maybe it's working, but they didn't get the Mayday? Any way of knowing for sure?"

"Only by looking at it."

They both turned and looked out over the lake to where the plane had vanished.

"Not really an option."

"No."

They stood silently side by side for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts as the sun started to sink lower onto the horizon. Finally she nudged his side, remembering at the last minute the bruising he had there and turning it into more of a caress. He turned to her and she had a close up look at his bruised and cut face, as well as his troubled expression. Beckett wondered why he looked so guilty. He couldn't be blaming himself for them crashing, could he? It definitely wasn't his fault.

"We'll feel better if we eat," she told him. "Come on, I'll make you dinner."


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Sorry guys, but it's easier for me to make short chapter than long ones. It always has been. Not only do I have a short attention span, but also I have a lot of responsibilities and if I wrote long chapters it'd take me forever to get each one out._

OOOOOOOOO

"Think he's dead yet?"

Esposito looked down at the man who was sprawled in the alley, his body riddled with bullet wounds, and then looked over at his partner.

"Are you _serious_? Yeah, I'd say he's dead."

Ryan gave him an odd look and then realized what he'd said and how it sounded.

"Not this guy. _Castle_."

"Castle?"

"Yeah. He's going to drive Beckett crazy, after all. It's just a matter of how much she'll put up with before she kills him."

Esposito thought about that for a minute, then shrugged.

"Hundred bucks says she kills him by morning."

Ryan snorted.

"_Morning_? Castle doesn't have the patience to wait until morning. He'll say something dumb and piss her off before they're out of the _airport_, I bet."

"You're both wrong." They turned and saw Lanie walking over to them, looking at the body in front of her but obviously listening in on their conversation as well. "He'll be on his best behavior tonight and won't do anything dumb until the last night when he's running out of time."

"No way."

She shrugged and gave them a knowing look.

"He's smarter than you guys are giving him credit for, but he's too arrogant to handle being ignored all week. She'll kill him – _figuratively_ of course – on the last day."

"Hundred bucks?" Ryan asked.

She smiled.

"You're on."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The yellow box once more proved to be their salvation. The emergency rations were packets of meals that were a lot like the military's MRE only without most of the extras. Packages of pre-made entrees (spaghetti and meatballs, chicken with dumplings, meatloaf, grilled chicken, tuna casserole and cheese tortellini). Like Castle had said there were enough for six people for three days. Which would be 9 meals apiece for them. Aside from the entrees there were other edibles like crackers with peanut butter, some with jelly, applesauce, and even noodles. There was also several packages of instant coffee, 6 tin eating spoons, 6 collapsible drinking cups, a gallon jug of water – which would come in handy even after the water was gone – and even a small pack of Hershey bars. The meals were designed to be eaten directly out of the packages, so there weren't any plates. She'd asked him why everything was in sixes and he had explained that the plane seated a maximum of that many people.

Beckett heated water in a couple of the cups for coffee and set two packages of tuna casserole as close to the fire as she could without getting them hot enough to melt the packaging. She also pulled out crackers and peanut butter – along with a candy bar that she and Castle could split – deciding that if she was going to eat tuna casserole after a plane crash she needed some chocolate to go with it.

While she did that Castle cleared the area in front of the log they'd been sitting on, figuring that it would make a good backrest for them and with one of the emergency blankets draped behind them it would reflect the heat back nicely later. With enough for six people there were plenty of blankets to spare for it. Then he glanced over to see if she needed any help before he lowered himself down in front of the log and leaned back against it with a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh.

Beckett watched him surreptitiously as he settled himself and closed his eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

To prove it he opened his eyes, although he spoiled the effect when he winced.

"Hungry?"

"No, but since you're willing to set women's lib back 100 years by making me dinner I'm certainly not going to turn it down."

"I'm not setting back anything," she replied with a smile, since she easily recognized he was teasing her and not being a chauvinistic pig. "You did all the _hard_ work so it's only fair that I help."

_He_ smiled, too, and she was glad to see it. She brought his dinner to him rather than watch him struggle to his feet to get his own and then brought her dinner as well as their coffee. He accepted both gratefully and shifted a little in an obvious invitation for her to sit by him. She accepted it without comment and felt her own aches as she leaned back against the log. It was nicely warmed, now, which meant that it was definitely going be where they slept that night.

"Ugh. _Tuna_?"

"Hey, complaining about the meal is not the best way to get me to cook again."

"Tell me there's something better for breakfast…?"

She shrugged.

"You tell me; you're making it."

"Hey, I did all the _hard_ work and all I get is dinner?"

Beckett smirked.

"I'll sleep with you tonight, too."

He turned to her, the fire lighting his eyes up and the shadows hiding his bruising and cuts a bit.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Well, if you do that, then I could probably be talked into making you breakfast…"

She smiled.

"You realize we're both going to be fully _clothed_, right?"

He shrugged.

"It'll cramp my style, but I'll figure something out."

They looked at each other for a full minute and then they both snickered and started eating. At least there would be chocolate for dessert.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: Happy Valentine's Day! Here's your present from me.

_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

_The subdued roar of the engine stopped at the same moment that everything in front of her went dead. She glanced down, shocked._

"_What happened?"_

"_We're crashing."_

_She looked out the window and saw the ground coming up at her at terrifying speeds._

"_We can't!"_

_He reached over and inflated her seatbelt, his eyes catching and holding hers. He looked calm. She felt terrified._

"_Hold on tight. We'll be okay."_

_She looked back out the window and saw a patch of blue._

"_What's that?"_

"_Water. We'll land there, I think."_

"_What if we miss it?"_

"_Then we'll hit the trees."_

_They dropped like they were on a roller coaster, leaving her stomach fighting for space in her throat with her heart – which was already firmly entrenched there._

"_Hold on!" he yelled as the blue patch suddenly loomed in the entire front window. And then it was gone and they were crashing into the trees. The front window was obliterated in a shower of glass and she threw her head sideways to try to protect her face. The plane came to a crashing stop and she felt herself thrown against her safety belts, which held tight._

_She whimpered, and looked over to the pilot's seat._

"_Castle?"_

_He hadn't been so lucky. The belts had held, same as hers, but several branches had shoved into the cockpit window and then into him. Blood was everywhere and his head was lolled back, lifelessly._

"_Castle!"_

"Hey!"

Beckett jerked awake suddenly with a cry of fear, breathless.

"_Castle_!"

"Easy. I'm right here."

She couldn't see him, but she could feel him. His hand had been on her shoulder, shaking her awake, and how his arms were around here, pulling her against him. Shaken and still caught up in the terror of the nightmare, she allowed him to hold her as she clung to him; glad he was alive and not dead.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_. I'm right here. Easy…"

His voice was soft and steady, just what she needed, and as she stopped trembling she could feel that he was rocking her gently as he soothed her. A hand running lightly through her hair and a low hum rumbling in his chest while he was doing it.

"I had a bad dream," she told him, feeling like a child, but not ready to pull away just yet. The scene had been vivid and frightening.

"I know. I'm sorry."

Her cheek was against his chest and she could feel his heart beating, reassuring her that it had only been a bad dream and he was fine.

How long they stayed like that she didn't know, but it was a long time. Beckett wasn't used to bad dreams – amazing considering all the terrible things she'd seen in her career – and it had left her reeling and needing a chance to recover. Castle was willing to hold her without comment aside from the occasional reassuring murmur from somewhere over her head. Finally, though, she pushed herself a little more upright, and he helped her settle beside him.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

She nodded, but it was almost completely dark and she could only see a dim outline of him, which meant he probably hadn't seen the motion.

"Yes. Thanks."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay."

He pushed himself up, and she heard him gasp with pain at the action. Wondering if she'd hurt his feelings by shutting him out, she turned her head to watch him as he walked away. He didn't go far, however, and she heard rather than saw him gathering up branches from their large pile and tossing them on the dying fire to build it up.

"We were crashing…" she told him.

He nodded, and she could see it now that the fire had things lit up again. He walked back over and sat back down beside her, close but not quite touching. She handed him the emergency blanket he'd slipped out of when he'd stood up.

"I figured that was what it was," he replied, not even smiling at the fact that she'd changed her mind so quickly. "Let me guess; it didn't turn out like it did in real life?"

"How did you know?"

"What else would it have been?" he asked.

She scooted closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder. He was warm and solid and she still needed that. Luckily, he didn't tease her for it, and didn't make a smart comment about it.

"It was pretty intense," she admitted, looking at the fire. She didn't know why he'd built it up again. She wasn't cold by any means, and she could feel the warmth emanating from him, proving he wasn't, either. Maybe too much warmth, something said nagging at her, but she was still shaken and unable to really gather herself enough to consider possible ramifications of that. The fire was comforting, and she decided that _that_ was the reason he'd done it.

"It was only a _dream_, though," he reminded her, leaning down and pressing a kiss against her hair. "Everything will be okay in the morning."

She smiled.

"That sounds like a line you've used more than once."

He nodded.

"Alexis believed it every time. So should you."

Which explained why he was so good at soothing bad dreams. She watched the fire crackle and burn but the solid presence beside her did more to calm her than the blaze. Eventually, after who knew how long, her eyes closed once more, and this time when she slept the bad dreams stayed away.


	10. Chapter 10

The sound of birds woke Beckett up. Birds that sounded closer than she could ever remember hearing some. She opened her eyes and sat up stiffly, curiously looking around for the source of the noise. Two little brown birds were squabbling over one of the crackers that had been left over from Castle's dinner the night before, wings flapping and voices rising louder and louder in annoyance. Until they caught the motion from her sitting up. One bird looked over at her, the other snatched the prize and flew off with the other close behind.

Bemused, she looked for Castle but didn't see him anywhere. A glance down at her watch told her that it was after 9AM, and her stomach growled, reminding her that dinner was a long time ago.

The dirt between her and the fire had been cleared away and she noticed that there was something scratched into it. She had to stand up to be able to read it, though. Feeling three times as old as she actually was, she got to her feet, allowing the blankets that had been covering her to fall to the ground.

_Breakfast in the box. Be back soon. - R.C._

She wondered why he had bothered to sign his name. Talk about redundant! Who else would have written it? She turned and started for the box, grumbling just a little to herself that he was going to leave her to make her own breakfast when he'd promised to make it for her. Then she opened the box and couldn't help but be surprised. Two of the metal drinking cups held blackberries and one had raspberries. Fresh berries that had to have been picked that morning, since she knew they hadn't had them the night before – and _where_ had he found them?

Besides the berries there was also a package of crackers and applesauce. Which was fine with her because she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to down spaghetti for breakfast and he'd obviously decided the same thing. She picked up breakfast and went over and sat on the log to eat it. And then spotted the cup that was by the fire. Beckett shook her head at the thoughtfulness of leaving water to warm for coffee, but certainly had no intention of letting it go to waste.

By the time she had made her way through the berries – which had been perfect – and the rest of her breakfast, she was getting a little worried that Castle hadn't returned by then. Not that she was afraid he was going to run into a bear and get eaten, but all sorts of accidents could happen that had nothing to do with wild animals and she was beginning to think of all of them.

Broken bones from a stumble, maybe he'd found a beehive and had been stung? She didn't know if he was allergic to bees or not, but the thought of surviving a plane crash only to be killed by a simple sting just was awful. Especially after the nightmare from the evening before. Just as she had decided to go looking for him, however, he came stumbling out of the woods and into their camp, startling her.

He smiled when he saw she was awake and up, but since he was carrying a huge armload of wood he didn't wave at her.

"Good morning."

She returned his smile as he walked over and dumped the load onto the remainder of their pile from the day before.

"You think we'll need all that?"

He shrugged, wiping his forehead.

"Better to have it, just in case."

She couldn't argue with that logic.

"Where did you find the berries?"

"There's a bunch of them back that way," he told her, gesturing back the way he'd come. "I was looking for the road and fell into them – literally."

"Any luck?"

"No."

He came over and sat down on the log with her and she frowned at how flushed and sweaty his face was.

"Are you okay?"

Castle nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve again.

"Spent all morning stumbling through the woods. It's not something I'm used to."

Good point.

They sat on the log, looking around and trying to figure out what they should do next. They could talk about the plane crash, but she didn't want to discuss it and he was prudently avoiding the cause of her nightmare. And avoiding discussing the nightmare at all – which she appreciated. But there really _wasn't_ a lot to do. They didn't even have a deck of cards.

"Want to go fishing?" Castle asked, abruptly.

"What?"

"There's fishing lines and hooks in the survival kit," he told her. "I could dig up some worms and we could go fishing."

"We _have_ food."

He rolled his eyes.

"Not for _food_," he said. "I wouldn't have a clue how to cook one on a campfire with no pan – and even then, really."

She smiled.

"You never wrote a book with your characters getting stranded in the wilderness?"

That would have been convenient because they'd at least have whatever research he'd done for that to fall back on.

He shook his head.

"Are you _kidding_? Do you have any idea how _boring_ that would be? No one in their right mind would try something like that."

"Why not?"

"There's nothing to write about," he told her. "After the inevitable sex scene they wouldn't have anything to do." He pretended to be typing on a computer in front of him _"The two sat in front of the fire staring at it and talking about what they would eat when they got home, or just how much they wanted to be able to take a bath…"_

"I want a bath."

"Me, too."

"And a _cheeseburger_."

"You're killing me, Detective."

"Sorry."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Esposito! Ryan! Get in here."

Ryan looked over at his partner.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. You?"

"Nothing."

The two of them headed into Montgomery's office and found their boss sitting at his desk, looking torn between annoyed and concerned. But mostly annoyed. He looked up as they walked in.

"Close the door, please."

Esposito did so, wondering what in the world they'd done wrong.

Montgomery didn't make them wait long.

"I just got off the phone with the mayor."

"I didn't do it," Ryan said, immediately.

Which caused the captain to scowl. But he ignored that particular comment.

"Know what he wanted? He wanted to know why he didn't have TV coverage of Beckett and Castle making some kind of grand entrance into the convention last night. Or this morning, for that morning."

The two detectives exchanged a look.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"I mean they haven't been _seen_ yet," Montgomery explained. "The mayor has been bragging all day yesterday that he was going to have Castle at that convention with his 'muse' and apparently neither has shown up. He's _not_ happy."

"That's weird."

"Wow, you must be a detective or something," the captain snapped. "Get a hold of Castle's mom and find out where they are – or at least where they flew out of so I can confirm with the mayor that they're at least in Buffalo."

"Yes, sir."

"And keep me updated."

The two knew a dismissal when they heard one – they'd heard plenty of them before, after all.

"Yes, sir."

They headed out the door and Ryan smiled as he looked over at his partner.

"You know what this means, right?"

"What?"

"You guys are going to owe me two hundred bucks."


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's note: Had to work today, so I had to wait until I got home to write this. Hope you like it. And thank you all for the reviews!_

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Thank you, Detective, please keep me informed."

Alexis Castle walked in as her grandmother was hanging up the phone, and smiled.

"Was that Beckett?"

Martha shook her head, and sat down. Alexis was immediately concerned because she rarely saw her grandmother as serious as she looked just then.

"It was Detective Esposito. You remember him?"

"He works with Detective Beckett, right?"

"Right."

"What did he want? Is everything okay?"

"Your father and Detective Beckett haven't shown up to the convention yet."

"What?"

"Now don't _panic_," Martha said, holding up her hand. "Just because they aren't there doesn't mean that something _happened_ to them."

She didn't look convinced.

"You know your father, dear. It's completely possible that he decided to go to Chicago or even Detroit."

"_With_ Detective Beckett?"

"I'm just saying… don't panic until there's a reason to. The detectives are going to go to the airport and find out where he went."

"What if something _did_ happen?"

Martha opened her arms and Alexis took the invitation gratefully, more than willing to be comforted.

"Darling, your father can walk through raindrops and come out dry on the other side. He's fine. I know it."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Montgomery looked up at the knock on the door to his office and found Ryan standing there.

"What did you find out?"

"They never arrived at the airport in Buffalo."

"Do we know where they ended up?"

Ryan shook his head.

"The plane's emergency beacon hasn't been activated, though, so that means that they didn't crash. They might just have taken a side trip somewhere…"

Montgomery frowned.

"It's not like Beckett to pull something like this. Castle, _yes_, but not Beckett."

Esposito walked over to join them, looking worried, too.

"They just finished calling around. The plane hasn't landed in any of the airports within its range. That means _something_ happened to it."

"What's the next step?" Montgomery asked.

"The FAA is going to launch a search for them along the flight plan Castle filed," Esposito told him. "There aren't any reports of planes going down in the last couple of days in the populated areas which means they'll focus on the rest of it. If they crashed, they'll find them."

"You talked to his mom and daughter?"

The detective nodded.

"They're worried, but that's understandable."

"Keep them posted on anything we find out," Montgomery said.

Ryan nodded; they already planned on that, of course.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It wasn't a very good day. Beckett was used to being active, and hanging out in the woods wasn't the ideal way to take care of that need. She watched Castle sitting on a log fishing, but didn't join in. Part of the reason for that was that she was afraid she might actually _catch_ something. Castle wasn't the only one who didn't have a clue how to cook a fish by a fire – and she had no desire to clean them, either. Another reason was that she didn't want to sit around doing nothing – and fishing was boring. She couldn't believe he was able to sit still long enough to do it, really.

She took a hike, instead, looking for the same road that he'd been looking for earlier that morning. She had been careful, though; the last thing she wanted was to get lost in the woods without any way of finding the camp again. She didn't have any more luck than he had, unfortunately. Not only did she not find a road or any campsites, she didn't find hunters, other hikers or any other kind of outdoorsmen. She wondered if he'd imagined the road or had mistaken something else for a road. They'd crashed pretty fast, after all. It wouldn't have been that hard. It could very well be that they were in a place that was a _lot_ more isolated than they'd initially guessed.

And that was a little scary.

She'd made lunch for herself when she'd returned from the hike. A quick check in the box told her that a pack of crackers was missing but that he hadn't made himself anything for lunch. Of course, he could have been too focused on his fishing – she knew he tended to get that way sometimes. Beckett thought about taking him some spaghetti when she made her own lunch, but decided that he was a grown up and if he wasn't hungry she wasn't going to nag him about it. It wasn't like they were using all that much energy sitting around, after all, and he knew where to find it when he did get hungry.

The rest of the afternoon she spent gathering up firewood, just in case. Not that she liked it, but she wanted to do her share, and he'd already done more than his share of wood-gathering and fire minding. She'd make sure he didn't need to do it that evening at least. But it was boring, too, and she needed some kind of conversation, so she dropped a final load on the pile and ambled over to the lake to see what he was doing.

He didn't even seem to notice her coming over, she saw. It was confirmed when he jumped, startled, when she spoke up.

"How's it going?"

He looked up at her, and she frowned when she realized he was as flushed as he'd been that morning when she'd woken up.

"They're not biting," he told her, looking back over the water.

"Are you okay?"

He smiled.

"They're _fish_. I'll get over it."

"That's not what I meant, Castle."

He shrugged, and the smile faded into a sad grimace.

"I'm worried."

"About what?"

"_Who_," he corrected. "Alexis. They have to know we didn't show up at the convention by now. She must be frantic."

Rather than try to convince him otherwise – which would have been a waste of time – she sat down beside him.

"I'm sorry."

He looked over at her.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. This is all my fault."

"You _meant_ to crash us?"

"No. But it was my idea to fly you. If I'd left you alone, you'd be at the convention having a fun time and doing whatever it is that you guys do at those things. Instead you're stuck here eating crap and waiting to be rescued by people who probably don't have a clue where to look."

She sighed, and leaned against his arm.

"It could be worse."

"Yeah? How?"

"We could have died."

"Still might."

She shook her head.

"Knock that off, Castle."

"Sorry."

"You can feel guilty when they find us, okay? Right now we need to keep positive."

He looked out over the water, avoiding her gaze.

"The water's pretty clear," he finally said. "I've been looking at it all day. If someone flies over they might spot the plane."

"Think so?"

He shrugged.

"Maybe."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"You're pretty hot, Castle."

He looked over at her, surprised.

"Yeah?"

She reached over and rested her hand gently against his cheek, brushing against the stubble that was growing there.

"Yeah. We'd better get some aspirin in you and see if we can break your fever."

He rolled his eyes, a self-mocking smile breaking into his moodiness as he realized that she'd purposely phrased it to make him think she was hitting on him. It was perfect, and he'd fallen for it – which amused him as much as if he'd done it to her.

"That was cold, Detective."

She grinned and got up, pulling him up as well.

"Yeah, I'm like that some times. Let's go dose you."


	12. Chapter 12

Richard Castle was a lot of things, Kate Beckett knew. Many good she had to admit, some not so bad and probably even a couple that were better off unmentioned. He was _not_, however, very entertaining when he was under the weather. Especially since he seemed to have very little interest in taking care of himself.

She walked with him over to the fire and had him sit on the ground, leaning against the log, and had brought him a cup of water and a packet of aspirin.

"You know… I don't _really_ need that," he told her. "I feel okay. It's just because I've been out in the sun all day."

"It's 50 degrees out here, Castle," she pointed out. "You're hardly going to get heatstroke. Take it."

"We should save them for an emergency."

"Take the aspirin."

He obviously was ready to argue with her, but she gave him her best killer glare and he obeyed, swallowing the pills and downing the entire cup of water.

"Did you eat?" she asked.

"I had some crackers."

"Then dinner is the next item on our agenda. You sit here and relax and I'll make it."

"You don't have to do that, Beckett. I feel okay and I'm not hungry."

"You didn't eat lunch."

"I haven't _done_ anything all day."

He sounded frustrated, and she understood completely. It didn't make it okay to not eat, though.

"If it were _me_ that hadn't eaten what would you do?"

"I'd say you were a grown up and could make your own decisions about when to eat."

She smiled.

"You're lying, and you know it."

He'd rolled his eyes, realizing that her argument was a valid one – and one that he wasn't going to be able to defeat.

"Fine. I'll eat. But no tuna casserole, okay? Please?"

"Fine."

She made them both dinner (grilled chicken with more crackers and some berries that she'd gather when she'd been out hiking that day) and brought him another cup of water to drink with it. She didn't want him to get dehydrated – especially if he was fevered – and it wasn't like they didn't have plenty of water available to drink.

He thanked her when she brought it to him, but waited to eat until he joined her.

"What did _you_ do today?" he asked as she sat down beside him.

"Hiked around looking for that road."

"No luck?"

"No. Are you sure it was a road?"

He shrugged.

"Pretty sure. I might have been way off on the distance, though."

They both finished their dinners and sat back against the log, with Castle looking over the lake and Beckett looking toward the forest.

"How far off the flight plan do you think we were?" she asked.

""Maybe as much as fifty or sixty miles," he replied, leaning back and wincing when he closed his eyes. "I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going."

"Because of the GPS."

"Right. It would have been easy to get back on track if everything had gone according to normal."

"So any would-be searchers will look along the flight plan first, right?"

He nodded.

"And then what?"

"They'll look elsewhere. Probably call all the airports we could have reached to make sure that we didn't divert to one of them, then start looking in other places along the route."

"They're going to know we didn't land somewhere else," she pointed out. "Where else would we go?"

He smiled without opening his eyes.

"Maybe they think we snuck off for a few days of quiet, alone time for a romantic interlude."

"That would never happen."

"It's happening _now_."

"Only because we're _trapped_ here. And the whole romantic thing isn't happening."

"You slept with me."

"I did not."

He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I _did_. But not in the way _you_ meant."

He smiled and closed his eyes again. Point made.

She changed the subject.

"What if the emergency beacon is actually on and just isn't getting a signal through the water?"

"You might be right," he agreed. "It would probably depend on how deep the water is."

"No way of knowing."

"No. Probably not."

She noticed he wasn't making much effort at conversation and looked over at him, watching him since his eyes were closed and he wouldn't notice. He didn't look quite as flushed as he had, but his scratched and bruised face was tired and drawn. Probably concern for Alexis – and guilt over what had happened, she decided.

She reached out and rested the back of her hand against his cheek, which caused him to open his eyes. He must have noticed the concern in her expression, because he offered up a tired smile.

"I have a _headache_," he told her. "The romantic interlude will have to wait."

She knew he'd said it like that on purpose, to make her flustered, or to annoy her, or maybe just to make her smile. She read him as well as he read her, after all. She didn't do any of them. Her hand slid along his cheek to his jaw, and then checked his forehead. He was still pretty warm.

"You should get some sleep, Castle."

He nodded and closed his eyes.

"What are _you_ going to do?"

"Play pillow for a little while."

She moved a little closer; using the hand she had on his face to pull his head down to her shoulder. He went without argument, surprising her just a little, and without any smart comment, which gratified her. She wasn't trying to baby him or seduce him, just make him comfortable enough to sleep for a while. He'd done it for her the night before and she was willing to return the favor.

Burning with a fever that was taking far more out of him than he was willing to admit, he fell asleep fairly quickly. It took her a lot longer, but eventually she fell asleep too.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Sometime during the night she was roused by him moving around in the darkness beside her. The fire had almost gone out so she couldn't see anything, and being only half awake she wasn't aware enough to be too interested. The warm spot where he was moved away with a stifled groan of pain, and then there was rustling off to the side. She felt him lower her gently down onto the ground from the sitting position she'd fallen asleep in and felt him drape one of the emergency blankets over her. She roused long enough to pull it around herself and shift into a more comfortable position.

"Castle?"

"Shhh… go back to sleep. I'll get the fire."

She muttered something he probably didn't understand, and then heard him move away from her and toward the fire. She could have stayed awake to watch, but _she_ was tired, too, even though she hadn't actually had all that active a day, either. She didn't fall asleep completely though until she felt him join her once more, tucking himself between her and the log and feeling the warmth of him from behind and the warmth of the fire from the front.

"Thanks, Kate…" he whispered, softly, as his arm went around her to keep her warm and he shifted to find a comfortable position.

"Mmm-hmmm…"

She might have said more, but she fell asleep instead.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

_Author's note: Kind of a sappy chapter, I know, but they have to happen sometimes._


	13. Chapter 13

When Esposito and Ryan arrived at the precinct the next morning, they were met by a flurry of activity. As always there were crooks, cops and everyone in between, but there was also a large group of cameramen and reporters of all sorts trying to gain entrance into the main areas of the building – and a small army of officers keeping them at bay.

"Captain wants you guys in his office," one of the other detectives told them as soon as they walked through the chaos.

Ryan nodded his thanks and they kept walking, but someone else slapped a newspaper into his stomach as they walked through the busy room. He looked down at the front page and shook his head, but it was Esposito who spoke first.

"Not good, huh?"

He'd been looking over his partner's shoulder at the headline that screamed at them as soon as the paper was unfolded.

"_Mystery writer and NY Detective missing."_

Underneath was a picture of Castle and Beckett taken at the opening party for the first book he'd written with Beckett as his muse.

They both came to a halt to read the article, but before they could get past the first sentence, someone called them. Someone who was _not_ happy.

"Get in here!"

Montgomery wasn't alone in his office. The mayor and the chief of police were both there as well. And both of them had the paper in their hands.

"Care to explain this?" Montgomery asked, brandishing the paper at them.

Esposito shook his head.

"We didn't have anything to do with it, sir."

The captain scowled. He knew that, he'd just needed to yell at someone – and he couldn't yell at the mayor.

"Beckett's dad has called me twice already, today. I'm just waiting to hear from Castle's mom and daughter."

"We spoke with his mom already this morning. She called me early."

Montgomery's expression softened a little.

"How is she holding up?"

"They had a rough night, sir," Ryan answered. "We're keeping them in the loop with anything we hear."

"What _have_ we heard, Detective?" asked the mayor.

"Nothing good. They don't have any indication that the plane went down – no wreckage anywhere along Castle's flight plan, not even any burned areas that might have shown that it went down. They're saying that there is a lot of wilderness that they were flying over, it's possible they went off course."

"There weren't any storms, though," the chief pointed out, quoting the article in the paper.

"They're looking, sir," Esposito said. "And they're going to let us know the minute they have anything."

"See to it we hear before the press, will you?"

"We'll try."

There was little hope of that, though. The press was everywhere. Look how they were trying to take over the station, after all.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Beckett woke slowly, warm and comfortable and aware that the quiet morning was not the norm for her. She was used to alarms, and sirens and shouting and the sound of thousands of cars and people and the hum of a city that was known the world over for never sleeping. She preferred to wake up to those sounds, she decided, even as she stretched and winced when she felt more aches this morning than she had the morning before. Her legs felt like they were knotted from hip to heel and her arms ached from the unaccustomed chore of gathering wood and toting it through the woods.

She'd rather chase crooks any day.

With a groan she sat up and looked around, wondering how Castle was feeling that morning. Running her hand through her hair and wishing for a brush – and even more, a shower and some soap and a toothbrush – she frowned when she didn't see him sleeping near her, or at least somewhere close to the fire resting.

"Castle?"

Her throat felt a little scratchy, and when she saw the cup he'd obviously left her by the fire, she got up and went over to make coffee before doing anything else. If the man was going to be so considerate, she definitely wasn't going to let it go to waste. As she sipped it, she noticed another note in the dirt by the yellow box.

_Back in a while. – R.C._

Again with the signature. Shaking her head, she stretched her free arm to make it stop aching and shivered a little in the chill of the morning. As she did, a splashing sound from the lake drew her attention and she turned. And dropped the coffee she was holding.

"What the _hell_!?"

Ignoring the fact that she didn't have her shoes on she rushed down to the water's edge.

"Castle!"

On the same log he'd spent most of the day before fishing from there was a pile of clothing – and a pair of battered leather shoes. Out in the water there was a lot of splashing as Richard Castle's dark head came up from under the water and he looked over at her shout. He waved at her, but his attention was clearly elsewhere, and he dove back under the water after only a moment's pause for a deep breath.

She hesitated, uncertain if he was in trouble and needed her to rescue him. She could swim, but was well aware that he had already pulled _her_ out of the water after the crash. He was the stronger swimmer, and he had waved at her to acknowledge that he'd seen her, but hadn't called for help. She took another step to the water, aware that there was no way she'd be willing to tell Alexis Castle that she'd stood on the water's edge and watched her dad drown, but before she could go any further he reappeared again.

This time he turned and headed toward the shore, swimming slowly, but not in distress as near as she could tell. Suddenly furious with him for scaring her, she waded out to meet him as he struggled the final twenty feet.

"Are you out of your _mind_?!"

He was gasping for air, so he didn't have the breath to defend himself for his foolishness. She didn't give him a chance to, at any rate.

"It's freezing out here. You're already sick and you go and pull something stupid like this. What were you thinking?" She slid under his arm to support him as he staggered out of the water, and he leaned heavily against her. She could feel him shivering hard enough to make her shiver as well, and his teeth were chattering so badly it was a wonder that they weren't falling out. "You better not have been trying to get your luggage."

He shook his head, coming to a stop so he could catch his breath now that they were out of the water.

"I was… looking for the… emergency… transponder…"


	14. Chapter 14

"The what?"

"The emergency beacon," he panted, doubling over when his legs gave out and dragging her down as well. "I wanted to see if it was on."

She swore, and let him go long enough to go collect his clothes. Draping them over one shoulder, she helped him to his feet and walked him back to the fire, holding him as close to her as she could to try and warm him up. His lips were blue with cold and his skin was freezing. He wasn't walking well, either from exhaustion or simply from being so cold, so she pretty much pulled him along with sheer determination and muscle.

Then, once she had him by the log she started drying him off with his shirt, concerned now with trying to get him dry and warm without hurting him. Having his shirt off let her see just how badly bruised his upper body was; there was a dark, almost black, bruise that went the entire length of his torso from shoulder to belly – clearly from the seatbelt – and several others that were scattered along his ribs. Right now, however, her bigger concern was to warm him up. She was just a little gentler than she would have been – especially considering that she was annoyed with him for being stupid.

"Take your shorts off and put these on," she ordered, thrusting his pants at him. Before he could respond, she went to their woodpile and tossed on a couple armfuls of wood, wanting to get the fire as warm as she could. When she turned back around he hadn't moved. He was still doubled over and shivering, with water dripping from his soaking wet hair and running down his face.

With a resigned sigh, she reined her temper in and went over to help him.

"Here," she said, taking his shirt and drying his hair with it. She then dabbed his shoulders, chest and stomach dry and helped him stand up long enough to get out of his wet boxers and into his pants, which would warm him up a lot better than soaked shorts would. Luckily for his health, he didn't make any smart comments when she had him naked, and was equally silent when she helped him with his button and zipper because his hands were shaking too badly to do it himself.

His shirt was damp, now, but still warmer than going without, and she helped him get that on, too, before she settled him in their sleeping spot, sitting upright against the log with her pressed against him, and her arms around him to warm him up as well as she could. The fire was warming her up nicely, but he shivered for a long time before she felt them starting to ease off a bit.

"That was dumb, Castle…" she finally muttered.

"Sorry."

"You could have drowned."

"I wanted to see how deep the water was."

"You should have told me what you were thinking of doing."

"You wouldn't have _let_ me."

"Because it was _dangerous_," she pointed out, hugging him close when he shivered again. She wasn't sure if it was cold or reaction, but he was still trembling enough to have her worried. "You should have waited for it to get warmer."

"I didn't think about that," he admitted.

She shook her head and wished she'd thought to put some water by the fire to warm so she could get something warm into him.

"What _were_ you thinking?"

"I need to get home."

It wasn't what she expected to hear, but it certainly said everything. He wasn't worried about _himself_, he was worried about Alexis and was desperate enough to jump in the lake to try and help the people who had to be looking for them by then.

"I found the plane," he told her, not lifting his head from her shoulder.

"Yeah?" she hadn't expected to hear that. "What did you see?"

"We got lucky. It's on an underwater ledge – or a sandbar, I'm not sure. Maybe twenty feet down or so. If someone flies over it, they should see it pretty easily."

"Is it in one piece?"

He shrugged.

"The front is."

"Did you see the emergency transponder?"

He nodded.

"I managed to get to it and turn it on, too. I don't know how well it's working, but it's _on_…"

Beckett was torn between being mad at him for being impulsive enough to try something so dumb and being impressed at the guts it had to take him to go out and look when he knew the water was going to be so cold. She settled for just holding him while he warmed up and kept both observations to herself.

"Was it on before?"

"I don't know."

"You should have had _me_ go look for it…"

She wasn't as battered as he was. Of course, she hadn't realized just _how_ battered he was before she'd seen him without his shirt. She started to wonder what kind of injuries he might have internally to cause so many deep bruises. Not to mention what a dive in deeper water would do to those injuries since there would be more pressure on his body the deeper he went.

He shook his head.

"You don't know what it looks like."

Good point. It was clear he'd thought that much through at least.

"It was still dumb," she told him.

He didn't argue with her, telling her that he was either still trying to warm up or that he agreed with her.

"I didn't see your bags…"

Meaning he'd looked.

"It's okay. I'd rather you hadn't stayed out there long enough to get them anyway."

"I would love a bath."

She smiled, remembering their conversation from the day before.

"Me, too."

"With soap."

"Yeah."

He trailed off and she relaxed her hold on him a little as he finally stopped shaking.

"How are you feeling?"

"Warmer. Thanks."

Beckett nodded, but if that was a hint that she could let go of him she ignored it. She wanted to make sure he was warmed up. Hypothermia was a very real concern and she didn't have the luxury of calling a doctor if he managed to catch a chill.

As the time passed, however, he warmed up and leaned more and more weight against her, telling her that he was probably falling asleep in her arms. She didn't really mind, but she had a few things she wanted to take care of, so before he could fall asleep completely, she ran her finger along his cheek – knowing that would wake him up a little. Sure enough, he jerked his head back in surprise and looked up at her.

She smiled, because he looked sleepy and kind of cute that way. Just _kind_ of, though.

"Let's get you settled a bit so you can take a nap."

He nodded and much the same way he'd tucked her in the night before she made sure he was comfortable against the log and covered as well as she could before she moved away. Castle didn't even open his eyes, so she was pretty sure he was asleep before he was even settled.


	15. Chapter 15

As search and rescue operations go, it was a pretty big one. Three planes, a helicopter and all sorts of ground support were all involved in looking for the lost airplane that had left Allentown Airport carrying world famous mystery writer Richard Castle and the inspiration for his latest hit series Detective Kate Beckett of New York's finest. It was a large area to cover, though, especially since there wasn't any indication of an emergency transponder anywhere to lead them to any sort of wreckage.

That's what they were looking for, too. The search and rescue teams had been advised that there was very little chance that the writer and the detective had vanished for some time away from the public – and they believed it. There were better ways to escape notoriety – especially if you were rich like Castle. The general consensus was that something had to have happened to the plane. They checked Castle's flight experience and found that he had several thousand hours of flight time in small planes, but even experienced pilots can have mechanical difficulties.

It was odd, though, that they couldn't actually _find_ the plane.

As with any search and rescue they started with the basics. Searching along the flight plan that Castle had filed in a low-leveled flight to take an initial visual look as well as to try and pick up the transponder signal. When that hadn't proven successful they started to branch out from the flight plan, turning the entire state of Pennsylvania into one giant grid. Now they were making low-level flights over each area of the grid, looking for any visual signs of wreckage or smoke that might be an indication of wreckage. The problem was, it was a large state and there was only so much daylight. It was a daunting task, but they weren't giving up by any means.

The operation was still in rescue stage. Provided the two survived any crash – and planes today were safer than they'd ever been – the weather was decent and there wasn't anything on the radar coming that would lower the temperatures below20 or 30 degrees, depending on the part of the state. Healthy people could survive that. Castle and Beckett were both healthy. It was just a matter of finding them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alexis Castle spent the day the same place she'd spent the night. On the sofa waiting for someone to call and tell her that her dad was okay. Her grandmother, who was just as worried, although she tried to hide it, spent the day with her. The phone had been ringing off the hook, but it wasn't anyone they wanted to talk to. The press was having a field day with the fact that her father was missing, and they were bombarding the girl and her grandmother with calls asking for comments and speculation. Finally Martha had left it off the hook. Those who needed to be able to get hold of them had Martha's cell phone number, and not a lot of other people did.

They'd had several visitors, too, but the benefit of living where they did was that not just anyone could get into the building – especially once Captain Montgomery had ordered a police guard on the door to keep out anyone who didn't belong. He'd gone by, too, to visit with Alexis and Martha and to assure them both that they were doing everything they could. Which had been very nice of him, Alexis thought with a sigh as she leaned back against a cushion that had alternated as a backrest and something to cuddle with when she needed to pretend that she had her arms around her dad.

A surprising visitor – who was still there and seated in one of the plush chairs in the living room – was Detective Beckett's father. Alexis had never met him, but he'd been introduced to Martha, who had invited him to come and have lunch with them. And he'd never left. He and Martha had spent the day exchanging stories of their children and had hit it off. Alexis didn't mind. He seemed like a nice guy, and he was clearly just as worried about his daughter as Alexis was worried about her dad. And he kept her grandmother occupied being a good hostess, which was good, too. It gave her something to do besides worry.

Esposito and Ryan came by frequently, too. It was pretty obvious they were worried, but they were even better than Martha at hiding it. Of course, they were cops and cops always had to be able to project calm, she knew. And they were really kind. They could have just called and checked in but instead they actually came over to make sure she was holding up okay and didn't need anything. They'd even brought pizza for dinner and had joined her and her grandmother and Beckett's dad in eating it, telling some outrageous stories of some of their past cases. It was a kind distraction and she appreciated it then and knew she'd appreciate it even more later on when she wasn't so worried.

A sleepless night and an equally turbulent day were taking their toll on her, though, and she drifted off as Ryan was telling them about some of the more interesting places people tended to hide narcotics when they were getting pulled over. She heard her grandmother tell someone to carry her up to her room, and tried to wake up enough to tell them she wanted to stay where she was, but she couldn't. Strong arms gently picked her up and she was cradled against a warm body. She nestled close, sleepy enough that she could pretend that it was her dad who was carrying her to her bed like he had so many times when she had been much younger.

Esposito put Castle's daughter into the bed Martha gestured to and then pulled the blanket up over her and tucked her in.

"Thank you," Martha whispered as they walked out of the room and she shut the light off before closing the door.

He smiled, shrugging and trying to act nonchalant – although it had actually tugged at his heartstrings to have done something that was clearly a 'dad' job.

"Are you next?"

She laughed, delighted and grateful for the banter, and swatted him on the shoulder.

"Come on. I'll buy you and your partner another drink. before you have to go."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Castle woke up feeling like crap. There really wasn't any nicer way to put it. He ached all over, his head was killing him, his throat hurt, he was thirsty, he was hungry and he really had to pee.

He sat up with a groan and heard someone cough nearby. He looked over and saw that Beckett was sitting on the log he had been sleeping by. She looked over at him, and he wanted to cry. She looked like he felt. Her face was smudged with dirt and soot, her hair was dirty and uncombed, her clothes were dirty and torn, not to mention she looked like she was catching a cold – or worse.

And it was all _his_ fault.

She stood up and crouched down beside him, her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey."

He forced a smile, but her voice was rough, her eyes were dull and tired and she had a bruise on her cheek. Again, all his fault.

"Hi."

"How do you feel?"

Her hand went from his shoulder to his forehead and he closed his eyes for a moment. He felt warm and her hand was nice and cool.

"I'm okay."

"Here."

She'd had the water jug near at hand, because she didn't have to move to hand it over to him. The water was warm, which would normally be unacceptable, but right now it would feel good. She must have decided that, too, because it wasn't full. He took it gratefully drank thirstily. One problem solved, but one made even more demanding. He ignored that for now, though, and caught her gaze as she took the water back.

"How do _you_ feel?"

She shrugged.

"I'm hanging in there. Are you hungry? I've got some spaghetti warmed up."

He nodded, and struggled to his feet with a lot of help from her. His chest was killing him, making his breath come in short gasps that he tried to hide behind painful grumbling.

"I'll be right back."

He was, too, feeling even better than before now that yet another need was taken care of. While he'd been gone she'd taken the opportunity to straighten the emergency blanket that was responsible for reflecting the fire's heat from the log and had also brought them both dinner. She was sitting on the log, watching him, and he couldn't miss the concern in her eyes as he walked up.

"I look that bad?" he asked, hoping she would smile.

She shrugged.

"You look like you're _sore_."

"I am."

He stopped at the yellow box and pulled out a couple packets of aspirin, noticing as he did that she'd gathered more wood and had set the gallon jug as close to the fire as she could without melting it. Which explained why they had warm water. She was doing a good job of taking care of him. The problem was, it was _his_ fault that she was there, and he should be taking care of her.

He handed her one of the packs as he sat down and she smiled, finally.

"I already took some."

"Headache?"

She nodded.

"Our romantic interlude will be delayed even more, I think."

Which made him smile, too.

"Try not to sound so cheerful about it…"

She patted the spot next to him, but he sat down on the ground, leaning against the log. He needed the support. Her leg was right beside him and he leaned against that, too, as he started to open the spaghetti package. She rested her hand on his head.

"You're too sore, anyway," she told him when he looked up. "Admit it."

Which was _not_ an invitation, he knew. She was teasing him, and he appreciated it.

"Maybe."

They ate in silence and without a word she took the empty packages and threw them in the fire so it wouldn't attract bears or worse. Then she sat down beside him with a sigh that sounded lost and hopeless. He understood completely. Ignoring the aches in his chest and shoulder, he reached out and put his arm around her, pulling her up against his side. She went without comment and rested her head against his chest and shoulder and they sat in silence watching the fire and lost in their own thoughts.

But not alone.


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's note: Sorry guys, I confused you and I didn't mean to. There isn't anyone else with Castle and Beckett; I meant that they weren't alone because they were with each other. Sorry! I also stopped Beckett and Castle at midday while everyone else is in the evening, so I'll get them all in sync in this chapter._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Beckett woke with a start, but held still as she tried to figure out what it was that had pulled her from her restless doze. They'd fallen asleep sitting up, mainly because Castle's breathing was so raspy that she was worried about letting him be flat. She also pulled away from him so she wasn't resting any weight on his chest. Instead, she'd played pillow for him once more, his head close to hers so she could listen to his breathing while he slept.

"Castle?"

His breathing had changed and since she was so attuned to it just then, it was enough to wake her. She leaned back, trying to see him in the waning firelight. His head lolled back against the log, and she shook him, panicked.

_"Castle!"_

He woke with a start, too, and a fit of coughing that racked his entire body so forcefully she was afraid he was going to pass out. When he finally caught his breath he looked over at her, exhausted.

"What's wrong?"

"You stopped breathing."

He frowned, his breath catching in his chest once more.

"Really?"

"I think so."

Castle leaned back against the log, looking at the fire and ran his hand along his stomach and chest absently.

"I'm _tired_, Beckett…"

She nodded. She knew exactly how he felt. They were both sick, and he was _hurt_, and if she was feeling hopeless she couldn't even imagine how he felt.

"I know. It won't be long. You just need to hang in there."

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I don't know how much-"

"Don't even _start_," she interrupted. "You're strong enough to survive a freaking plane crash, you can hang on until we get rescued."

"What if we don't?"

"We will."

He sighed, and she could hear his courage failing in that simple sound. Searching for anything that would keep his spirits up – or at least keep his attention from drifting back to how miserable he was – she reached over and rested her hand on his leg.

"You'd give up before our romantic interlude? I find that hard to believe…"

He didn't answer.

"Hey…"

The worry in her voice made him open his eyes, though, but for once he didn't have anything to say. Which worried her more than anything, really.

"_Alexis_ needs you to stay strong."

It was the only thing she had left to try, and when she said it she knew she'd found the one thing he had left to hold on for. The idea of sex was all well and good, but that had only been banter between them to keep their spirits up when they needed it the most. Alexis was real, though, and she _did_ need her dad. He looked like he was ready to cry, so tired but forced to hang on by her shrewd comment, and she felt like a heel for doing it to him, but she knew if he gave up then he wasn't going to make it. She'd seen it before, after all.

He nodded and closed his eyes again, and she looked at the fire, thinking that she should put more wood on it to get it roaring again. Instead, though, she started coughing and by the time she'd managed to catch her breath she felt as tired as she knew he was and couldn't gather enough energy to do more than reach for the jug of water and take a drink that she didn't really want.

She pressed up against him again, determined to keep him warm and to rouse him through the night if she thought he needed it. Before she could do more than maneuver his head back to her shoulder he was asleep once more, and she felt her own energy and courage drain out of her like someone had pulled the plug in a bathtub. She didn't fall asleep as much as pass out, and neither of them was awake to hear the plane that flew over them sometime in the early hours of the morning.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Flight, this is Air Rescue Bravo, picking up an emergency location transmitter signal 55 miles north of grid 2. Could you confirm the ELT of the plane we are looking for, over?"

Just because they _had_ an ELT signal it didn't mean for sure it was the one they were looking for, after all, and the pilot of the search plane knew it. Sometimes the ELT in a perfectly good plane would start transmitting on its own for no reason. Other times they would be kicked on during a turbulent flight or a particularly graceless landing. It was better to be sure.

There was a long pause and then his radio came alive once more.

_"Air Rescue Bravo. The ELT we are looking for is registered to N7145 out of Allentown Airport in New York City. Over."_

Ha!

"Roger Flight. Confirming. Over."

He didn't need to confirm, he already had. But the National Guard didn't make mistakes if they could avoid it – it looked bad to the people they were supposed to be protecting – so he double checked the signal he was picking up.

"Flight, this is Air Rescue Bravo. I have located the ELT of the missing plane, transmitting the exact location now. Over."

_"Roger, Air Rescue Bravo. Any sign of wreckage? Over."_

Of course, the controller knew it was 3:00 in the morning, so there would be little chance of that. It was an automatic question.

"Negative. Heavy woods and what appears to be a small lake. I'll locate a clearing for a helicopter landing if I can and we'll have to go in on foot. Over."

Not _him_, of course. He was a _pilot_. But they were also working with the forestry people, and they'd know the area well enough to get where they needed to go once they had a general location. The ELT was all they needed for now. Hopefully they'd find the missing persons huddled in the cabin of the plane waiting for rescue.

"_Roger,"_ came the reply, interrupting his line of thought. "_Transmit possible landing locations and Helo 1 will recommence search. Over."_

A fixed wing plane was not ideal for small area like a helicopter would be.

"Roger."


	17. Chapter 17

_The fire was warm and comforting and the lights in the room were dim. She leaned back against the cushions of the sofa and took a sip of her wine._

"_It's good, huh?"_

_She nodded, smiling at him._

"_Yeah. You went all out."_

"_Only the best for you."_

_She set the wine down and picked up the cheeseburger, taking a larger bite than she normally would have in mixed company. He watched her chew it with a smug expression, but she didn't feel at all self-conscious like she normally would have; it was too good to care. Cheese and meat melded together in the best combination she'd ever tasted in her life. _

"_French fry?" he asked, holding one up._

_She grinned._

"_You eat it."_

_He needed to eat, too, after all._

_He ate it, clearly savoring it as much as she was enjoying her burger._

"_Good?"_

_He nodded._

"_Perfect. Like you."_

_She rolled her eyes at the compliment and set the burger down._

"_We need to talk."_

_His gaze softened as he swallowed the French fry, but the mood was spoiled when it apparently went down the wrong pipe and he started coughing. She started to smile, ready to tease him about it, but the coughing grew worse and his face started to turn red._

"_Castle?"_

_The coughing was louder, and Beckett reached out for him._

"_Castle!"_

"Easy, Detective Beckett…"

She jerked awake as she felt hands under her, lifting her up and then settling her back down on the hard ground, this time on her back. Her eyes opened and the sun blinded her. With a whimper she closed them tightly, but had to open them again when she heard voices and felt something cold pressing against her chest. There was a man leaning over her with a camouflage hat and a serious expression on his face as he took hold of her wrist. There was a stethoscope in his ears and she looked at him dumbly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What?"

"Hold on for one second, please, Detective, I need to listen to-"

"Castle!"

She tried to sit up, turning toward the fire, but he held her down.

"Easy…"

She didn't listen, and his grip on her tightened. She couldn't see Castle, because there was a small army of people around him, but she had to try. Army in more than one sense of the word since they were all wearing military uniforms.

"Let me _go_!"

One of the men crouched beside Castle detached himself from the group and scrambled over to her, helping to hold her down while she struggled in their grasp.

"Hold still, Detective. You're going to hurt yourself."

"Be careful with him," she shouted – or _tried_ to. It came out as a croak around her abused throat. "He's hurt."

The man nodded.

"We know. We're taking care of him. Are _you_ hurt?"

"I don't think so."

"Give us a chance to check, okay?"

She let him push her back down, mainly because the burst of adrenaline that had spurred her into action was failing fast and she wasn't going to be able to sit up much longer anyway. She turned her head, trying to see what was going on by Castle while they listened to her heart and lungs.

"Who are you?"

"Lieutenant Ronald Allison," the man with the stethoscope replied. He made a gesture with his chin toward the other guy. "That's Corporal Henry Cooper."

"Do you have any medical allergies?" the corporal asked her by way of greeting.

"No. How did you find us?" she asked.

"The plane's ELT."

"ELT?"

"Emergency Location Transmitter," Allison explained as the corporal vanished from sight for a moment and returned with something in his hands that she couldn't see clearly. "One of our planes caught the signal early this morning and then we brought in a helicopter to see if we could find anyone."

"This is going to sting, Ma'am," the corporal warned her just as she felt him stab a needle into her hand. She hissed with the sudden pain and looked down and saw that he was hooking her up to an IV. "It's antibiotics and saline," he explained at her expression. "You're badly dehydrated."

"I tried…" she said, defensively.

Both men smiled, and there was nothing but respect in the expression.

"You did great, Detective. As soon as we get Mr. Castle stable, we'll carry you guys back to the helicopter and get you to a hospital."

She sighed, and tried to relax a little more, giving herself over to their care and grateful that they were there.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Martha Rodgers was asleep on the same sofa that they wouldn't let Alexis fall asleep on the night before. Beside her, snoring softly was Jim Beckett, who hadn't left the night before when Esposito and Ryan had. He and Martha had talked well into the early hours of the morning, finally drifting off only a couple hours before.

Martha's cell phone rang, startling them both awake. She grabbed for it even as she was sitting up. Jim watched her, hopefully, while she answered.

"Hello?"

The look of relief that crossed her expression after the first couple of moments of the conversation were all he needed. She looked over at him and smiled, covering the phone for a moment.

"They found them."

"Are they okay?"

"They're bringing them out right now. Detective Ryan said that he was told they're battered but they seem to be fine."

"Thank God."

She nodded her agreement and went back to the phone conversation, but it wasn't a long one. She closed the phone a minute later and he grinned.

"You should go let Alexis know."

She laughed and hugged him closed, so relieved that she could feel tears stinging her eyes.

"They're going to fly them both back here, so we need to get to the hospital."

He nodded.

"You go wake up Alexis, and I'll drive us."


	18. Chapter 18

Ryan was waiting for them at the entrance to the hospital. The press wasn't there, yet, because they didn't know which hospital to go to – and that information would be kept quiet for as long as they could just to avoid the chaos that would follow for as long as possible – so he was really there to show them where to go and not keep a crowd of gawkers away. He didn't give them time to ask him any questions, and instead ushered them into a private waiting room, where they were joined only a moment later by Esposito, who managed to look both relieved and concerned.

Alexis couldn't hold back her questions any longer.

"Have you _seen_ them? Are they okay? What happened to them? What-?"

He held his hand up to stop her.

"Captain's in with Beckett right now. She's awake and talking, but she's pretty beat up, too." He held her gaze with his own, knowing the next words were going to frighten her and projecting as much support and calm as he knew how to. "Your dad's in surgery right now, so we'll have to wait to talk to him."

Predictably, she paled – which was saying something for a kid with her coloring.

"What's wrong with him? Is he going to be-"

Martha put a steadying hand on her granddaughter's arm – or maybe needed steadying herself. Esposito shook his head.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," he admitted. "But there's a reason they brought them to _this_ hospital. This is where all our guys go when they get shot or hurt. Trust me, the doctors here are top-notch."

Before she could reply the door opened and Montgomery entered. He nodded to all of them.

"I'm relieved to be able to tell you that both Beckett and Castle are going to be fine."

There was a collective sigh of relief, and Martha suddenly needed to sit down. She went over to one of the chairs, dragging Alexis with her because her hand was suddenly clenched in her own.

"What happened?" Jim Beckett asked.

Montgomery shook his head.

"I just finished speaking with your daughter. She's not sure, exactly. From what she told me and the investigator from the FAA they were off the flight plan because Castle was showing her how to fly the plane and giving her a chance to play with it a little bit. When they decided to get on with their trip, she says that everything went black on their controls."

Beckett frowned.

"What?"

"What happened?" Martha asked.

Montgomery shrugged.

"She said that Castle told her later that it shouldn't have happened. The FAA guy seems to be in complete agreement. They're going to pull the plane and check it out thoroughly to see if they can find what caused it."

"What happened then?" Ryan asked.

"She told me that Castle crashed them into a lake. A hard landing, but they made it. Beckett doesn't remember much about getting to shore or what happened right after that, but she's crediting Castle with the fact that they're alive."

"Is she all right?" Beckett asked.

"Exposure and some bumps and bruises. The doctor that was working on her thinks she's going to develop pneumonia no matter what they give her for antibiotics, but they'll keep her here until she's better. You can go see her." He gestured toward the door he'd come through.

Beckett's dad looked at Martha and Alexis, but Martha shooed him off impatiently.

"Go. Tell her we'll be by later."

He nodded and left the room, hurriedly, and Montgomery turned to Castle's family.

"The doctors are checking Castle for internal injuries. Beckett told me he was up and walking after the wreck but he that he was in a lot of pain. The doctor that was in the room – not _his_ doctor, though – said that it could have been an injury to his ribs. He apparently went back into the lake yesterday trying to find out if the emergency beacon on the plane was working and that meant that he had to do a deep dive. The doctor said if he had a rib injury then the pressure from _that_ dive might have made it worse and possibly caused damages to some organs. Beckett told me he was a lot worse after going back in than he was before, which supports that theory."

"But he'll be okay?" Alexis asked. It didn't _sound_ like he was going to be okay.

Montgomery nodded.

"He'll be fine. You just can't see him, yet."

"We can see Beckett, though, right?"

"Sure. Just don't let her talk too much."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Since Esposito and Ryan had both already snuck in to check on Beckett before everyone else had arrived, they held back while Alexis and Martha went to check on her. When they opened the door, they saw that she was comfortably settled in a hospital bed that had the top raised so she could see what was going on around her – and probably to help her breathe, Alexis thought.

As Montgomery had told them, her face was pale and bruised, but she smiled when she saw the two of them, and her dad moved away from the side of her bed to give Alexis a chance to come over and hug her carefully.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, noticing that she'd been hooked up to an IV and a bunch of machines that were checking her vitals every ten seconds or so.

Beckett nodded, but coughed before she answered. And when she did, her voice was hoarse and scratchy.

"Yeah. How are you guys holding up?"

"A lot better now that they found you."

Which made her smile. Such a sweet child. Who would ever believe that she was half _Richard Castle_? Of course, that wasn't completely fair, she knew, now. He'd proven himself to her, and it was important to her that Alexis know how important she was to him.

"You can thank your dad for that. All he could think of was getting back to you."

Alexis couldn't have looked more pleased, and Martha's smile was grateful.

"We were told that we need to let you rest," she told the detective. "But is there anything you need?"

Beckett looked down at the paper gown they'd put her in.

"Some pajamas? And maybe some other items…?"

Like a little makeup so she could hide the bruises on her face. Bruises were all well and good for prizefighters, but not for detectives. Besides, she felt washed out and would prefer not to _look_ like it, too.

Martha gave her a knowing smile.

"We'll get you everything you need."

"Thanks."

She didn't ask how they were going to get into her apartment without her keys – she didn't even know _where_ her keys were, for that matter. Esposito or Ryan could let them in.

The two left her alone with her dad, knowing that he needed more time with her to reassure himself that she was going to be okay. They could understand completely.


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's note: Sorry you had to wait on this chapter. I had training at work all day and it was soooo long I had a bit of trouble getting into the writing mood. But now I am so here we go!_

OOOOOOOOOOO

A check with the doctors told Martha that the surgeons working on her son were going to be there for at least another couple of hours. As much as she wanted to wait around for them to finish she decided that it would be far better for her granddaughter if they had something to do to keep themselves occupied during that time. With that in mind, she asked Detective Ryan to help them with Beckett's request. He only hesitated a moment before agreeing, and Esposito told them he'd stick around the hospital and call them back if there was any word. Not that they planned on being gone long; Alexis wouldn't want to be gone any longer than necessary, even though she did agree that they should get the things Detective Beckett needed. And it would definitely be better if they went to do it, because one of the male detectives would mess up and get the wrong things.

Detective Ryan drove them – just in case they heard something and needed to speed back – and he was also the one who used his skill at lock picking to gain entrance into Beckett's apartment rather than ask the manager of the apartment building to let them in. He'd been in Beckett's place before, but he stayed right at the entrance rather than snoop through her stuff while she wasn't around. Luckily for his sensibilities Martha and Alexis had no such qualms and immediately and efficiently gathered all the items they thought she'd want – including a pair of warm pajamas that one of the nurses had suggested when they'd left.

On the way back, they got a call from Esposito, who said Castle was still in surgery but that word had leaked that they'd been found and even more important that the hospital they were both being treated at had been named. The press was already gathering, and they would certainly be looking for Alexis and Martha to be arriving. Esposito had a couple of officers waiting for them in the underground parking lot ready to hustle them into the private waiting room where they would be able to avoid any questions until they were ready to face them.

Both Alexis and Martha were used to the press, but they were grateful for the courtesy and would prefer to hold off on answering any questions until they had more information to give.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Beckett was asleep when they snuck into her room to deliver her things to her. Her father had pulled a chair near the bed and was dozing in it, and the two were careful not to wake him. Instead they headed back to the waiting room and settled in to wait with Ryan and Esposito both waiting with them, not only to make sure that some overly eager reporter didn't try to sneak in or barge his or her way into the waiting room and also because they wanted to be there when word finally came in on Castle's condition.

While they waited, Alexis turned on the TV to see if the reporters outside had more information than she did about what happened to her dad and Detective Beckett. What they saw, however, was that whoever had leaked the story hadn't been someone who had known much.

"_Speaking on the condition on condition of anonymity a source close the situation states that the Pennsylvania National Guard found Mr. Castle and Detective Beckett in the northern woods of Pennsylvania where their plane had been crashed into a lake. The National Guard hasn't released a statement, yet, and have commented that they have no intention of doing so until they have been advised by family of both Richard Castle and Detective Kate Beckett that it is all right for them to do so."_ The reporter who had given the report allowed his expression to become chagrined. _"Which means we'll have to wait to find out any more details."_

Alexis smiled.

"That's nice of them."

Esposito nodded his agreement and started to say something, when the door opened and admitted a doctor that none of them had seen before. From the scrubs he was wearing, it was a good bet he was a surgeon, and that brought Alexis and Martha both to their feet instantly.

He gave them both a smile, and Martha was relived to see that he wasn't wearing anything that was covered with blood. The last thing Alexis needed was a lot of blood when she was already on edge.

"You're Mr. Castle's family?"

Obviously _not_ a reader of mysteries. Martha didn't mind. She nodded and felt Alexis clutch her hand tightly. The doctor didn't make them wait.

"Mr. Castle is out of surgery, and he's going to be fine." He paused with a slight smile while Alexis gave an excited squeal and Martha had to clutch her shoulder in relief. "He's going to hurt for a while, though. He has a concussion, cracked three ribs, bruised his liver and sprained his wrist. Add to that the very real possibility of pneumonia from exposure and a lot of bruises and he's going to be here for at least a week."

"But he'll be okay?" Alexis asked.

"Yes."

"You're _sure_?"

The doctor smiled again.

"Yes."

"Can we see him?"

The doctor hesitated, but he had no more defense against her imploring expression than her father normally did and shrugged.

"You can, but you need to understand that he's going to look bad. He has a lot of bruising on his face, and it might be scary for you. He also has an intubations tube down his throat until we know how strong his lungs are so he won't be able to talk to you. He's going to be groggy, too, so he might not recognize you right away. And you _have_ to be very careful with him. His ribs are wrapped, but they're going to hurt if you try to hug him."

She nodded.

"I'll be careful."

"Recovery is just down the hall." He gestured to a woman who had joined them while he'd been speaking. "Doctor Evans will take you to see him."

Ryan and Esposito waited until the room was empty before they turned to the doctor.

"He's really going to be all right?"

The doctor nodded.

"It was a lot closer than I wanted to let them know, though."

"Thanks, doc."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

He was in the same kind of bed that Beckett had been put into. Bare-chested but with bandages wrapped tightly around his chest, he was covered with a warming blanket and attached to a lot more machines than Beckett had been. Including one that looked like it was pumping air into the tube that was in his mouth.

Alexis walked over slowly; frightened that she would somehow hurt him just by being in the same room as him. And with good reason, really, because the doctor hadn't been exaggerating about how bad he looked. His face was bruised and pale, but the doctor hadn't mentioned all the scratches that marred his cheek and a spot above his eye. Like Beckett, he was wearing a plain hospital gown, but she could see the bandages that were wrapped around his chest from his armpits down to somewhere under the blankets.

"Go on, sweetheart," Martha whispered, when Alexis hesitated.

She nodded and went over to stand beside his bed, her hand going out automatically to take his hand, carefully.

"Daddy?"

He didn't open his eyes, but she felt the hand she was holding tighten a little in her grip.

Martha went around to the other side and took his other hand, careful to avoid the IV that he was hooked up to. He didn't open his eyes at her touch, either, but neither were worried about that. He was alive and breathing and back with them. That was what was important. Time enough to get him on his feet later. For now they were content to just be there with him.


	20. Chapter 20

Castle spent the rest of the day in recovery. He never opened his eyes for Alexis or any of the few others that were allowed in to see him, but they all had the feeling that he was somewhat there, even if he wouldn't acknowledge anyone after the slight tightening of his hand for Alexis. The doctors decided that he was breathing well enough on his own to remove the breathing tube, so they did, and watched him carefully after doing so just to make sure. He passed the test just fine, although they all knew that when he was awake breathing was going to hurt his ribs. But that was what _painkillers _were for.

Alexis spent part of the day with her father, but not as much as she'd have liked. Recovery wasn't the best place for a visit, and Martha didn't want her to be under any more stress than necessary. She'd seen her dad and knew he'd be okay; there would be plenty of time later on for them to visit when he was in a regular room.

The hospital administration was doing an amazing job of dealing with the press that had swarmed the place. With the help of several extra police officers (sent over by the chief of police with the blessing of the mayor) they didn't have any serious problems, but they weren't really set up for someone that was as in demand as Castle was, and safe-guarding both him and Beckett from undesirable visitors in different rooms was more of a challenge than they were ready for. The head of the hospital went to Montgomery and asked if anyone would be offended if they put Castle and Beckett in one of their large private rooms. It would be big enough for them both, with a privacy curtain to separate the room into two – and better for them, it was in a corner of the hospital with only one entrance that would need guarding by the police.

Montgomery, well aware that the hospital needed as much consideration as possible, was also well aware that one other person definitely needed to be consulted. Especially since it was his fault that she was in the hospital in the first place. He waited for a time when everyone had gone to get something to eat in one of the doctor's lounges and then snuck into Beckett's room to discuss the idea with her. Luckily she was awake, although she was seriously drooping.

To his surprise, she didn't even give him her best killer glare when he brought up the request. She didn't jump for joy at the idea, but she didn't flat out deny him, either. He had an idea – one that he kept completely to _himself_, of course – that she was worried about Castle and wanted a chance to check on him and knew very well that the doctors weren't going to let her up any time soon. Assuming, of course, that she _could_ get up and walk to another room without falling on her face.

The hospital also needed to appeal to the press who had been clamoring for information on Castle ad Beckett. All requests for information so far were being denied, but something was going to have to be done in an official capacity, and soon. Montgomery got with the hospital and on the phone with the governor of Pennsylvania. Between them they set a time for an official press conference at the hospital for the next day. The governor would get the necessary members of the search and rescue team to the hospital for the conference the next morning, and the hospital would add the doctors who worked on both Castle and Beckett for any questions that the press might have. Martha agreed to be there as well, to answer any questions that she might be willing to. As long as they weren't ridiculously personal. The press were advised of the time that was being set for the press conference and told that anything they wanted to know would have to wait until then. Then, to make sure that any overzealous reporters didn't do anything stupid overnight – like try to sneak into unauthorized parts of the hospital to find out where Castle and Beckett were – they were warned that anyone who did would be barred from the conference. Or completely ignored during the question and answer part – which would be a fate worse than death for any of them. The press would wait. But they still stayed close to the hospital, just in case something interesting happened.

The doctors waited until after visiting hours were over to move Beckett and Castle. They gave Alexis and Martha a chance to say goodnight to Castle, and Beckett's dad and the others a chance to tell her goodnight, and then shooed even them away from the hospital to go get sleep. Then they moved Castle first. His bed would go closest to the window, and furthest from the door. It would be quieter for him and with the privacy curtain he'd be well away from any prying eyes in case someone managed to get by the police guards. Beckett was going to be the one closest to the door, but still had a curtain of her own to keep her from unwanted guests.

She was awake for the move and looked over at the curtain as soon as they had her bed in its position.

"Want it open?" one of the nurses asked with a knowing smile.

She started to say no just because she didn't know what the other woman was thinking but didn't want her to think something inappropriate, but she nodded and the word died in her throat.

He was propped upright in the bed, but she couldn't see much of him, just the scratched up side of his face and some bruises. But she could see that he was asleep and could hear the beeping that kept time with his heartbeat. It reminded her of the nightmare she'd had of the plane crash and the way he'd held her afterwards to comfort her. With that memory in mind she fell asleep before the nurses had her even completely settled in.

OOOOOOOOOOO

A fit of coughing woke her in the middle of the night. Not her own, but coming from the bed beside her. She sat up, and winced at how stiff she felt from lying around all day. The room was dimly lit and she could barely see his outline from where she was.

"Castle?"

He managed to get control of the coughing, but didn't reply with anything but a soft groan of pain.

She rolled out of her bed and dragging the IV stand behind her limped over to his bedside, leaning against the bed and looking down at him. His eyes were opened and he turned his head to look at her. He didn't look very awake, though. A mixture of medications and painkillers were swirling through his system, keeping his normally sharp mind dull, and his expression more like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Beckett?"

It was a hoarse whisper, and made her throat hurt. But she was glad to hear him speak. She smiled, and since no one was there to see it, she took his hand.

"Yeah. How are you feeling?"

"I had a dream."

"Yeah?"

He nodded and his hand closed around her fingers.

"Aliens dressed like Marines kidnapped us and took us into spaceships and did terrible things to us."

Her smile widened and she chuckled softly.

"It wasn't aliens."

"Yeah?"

"It was the National Guard."

"You had the same dream?"

She let go of his hand and ran a finger along his jaw, amused.

"Go to sleep, Castle. You'll feel better in the morning."

He didn't argue, proving that he wasn't really up to much of anything. Instead he closed his eyes and was asleep in moments. Beckett watched him for a minute or two longer, and leaned over and brushed a light kiss against his bruised cheek. He looked so miserable, even asleep, she couldn't help herself. Then she went back to her own bed and allowed herself to drift back to sleep as well.


	21. Chapter 21

Beckett was awake when Ryan and Esposito arrived the next morning to visit with her before they started their day. Ryan had a vase with a decorative arrangement of flowers in it in his hands and that made Beckett smile. She _liked _flowers – even if she'd never admit it to the guys. They teased her enough, and there was no way she was going to give them more ammunition than they already had.

As he handed them over to her, he frowned.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

She nodded, not at all offended by the question. She'd seen herself in the bathroom mirror earlier and knew that she looked fairly awful. Not just the bruises on her cheek, but the dark circles under her eyes and a strained look that hadn't been there the weekend before. Really, though, she'd looked worse after a particularly rough case, so she wasn't too concerned.

"Some." Her throat still hurt, so talking was a chore. "Castle had a rough night."

They all looked over at the curtained off area, but they couldn't see anything.

"Hurting?" Esposito asked.

She nodded.

"Every time he'd doze off he'd move or something and hurt his ribs – which would wake him up." And her. "He's also a little out of it. They brought breakfast and he kept telling them he didn't want tuna."

Ryan made a face.

"They gave you guys _tuna _for breakfast?"

"No, it was oatmeal and toast. Like I said, he's a little out of it. Sometimes. They upped his pain meds, so that might help the pain, but probably not the mental –"

"Beckett?"

The voice from the other side of the curtain was still hoarse.

Esposito was closest to the curtain, so he reached over and slid it open. Castle took a moment to focus on him, and then looked over at the bed Beckett was in. He looked drunk, Esposito thought. And pretty awful.

"Hey, Castle," Ryan greeted him – slowly. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful."

The word died in a croak and he started coughing. Esposito saw a cup of water on the table by his bed, next to an untouched breakfast, and handed it to him. Castle downed it and managed to get control of his voice again.

"Thanks."

"Can we bring you anything, Castle?" Ryan asked as Esposito took the cup back and put it where he'd found it.

"Alexis."

"They're here somewhere," Esposito told him. "We brought them in." He looked at Beckett. "Your dad will be up in a bit, too. He and Martha are going to sit in on the press conference."

"Press conference?" Castle asked.

"Dude, you have a _lot _of people wanting to know what happened to you guys," Ryan told him. "The press are going nuts trying to get at you and Beckett, so the department and the National Guard are going to hold a press conference here with some of the staff to get them the information they want and get them off our backs."

He stared at them for a moment, as if digesting what he was being told, and then looked at Beckett.

"How did they find us?"

She smiled. At least he didn't think it was aliens any more.

"The transmitter you turned on."

"That swim you took was pretty impressive, Castle," Ryan said. "_Dumb_, too, from what the doctors say. But _impressive_."

"I had to do something…"

Beckett started to answer, but the door opened and Alexis walked in, holding a vase of flowers. Castle lit up immediately, Beckett noticed. Either as an effort to look better his daughter wouldn't worry, or because the very sight of her made him feel better. Or maybe a little of both.

Alexis smiled at him, and then at the others, but her eyes went back to him immediately. Esposito winked at Beckett, who grinned. They didn't have kids, but it was pretty clear what was most important to Alexis and Castle just then.

"Hey sweetheart."

She handed the flowers to Ryan and walked carefully over to his bed, noticing that he looked like he was hurting, even though she could see he was trying to hide it from her.

"Hi Daddy."

He gave her a tired smile.

"You brought me flowers?"

"They're for _Beckett_."

Esposito snorted, as Ryan handed that vase to Beckett as well.

"We'd better get going," Esposito said. "If Alexis is here that means the press conference is going to be starting, and Captain wants us there."

"Come by later," Beckett told them.

"We will."

They left, and Beckett looked back over towards Castle and saw that Alexis was holding his hand, looking like she was going to cry.

"I was so _worried_ about you…" she told him – and her.

"I'm sorry."

She sniffed, and nodded, and Castle shifted himself over a little, biting back a curse since the motion was clearly agonizing.

"Come here, little girl…" he whispered, letting her hand go and patting the spot beside him.

She hesitated only for an instant, and then climbed up into the bed beside him. It was a bit of a squeeze, but that was all to the good. He put his arm around her, turning slightly onto his side to give her more room, and Beckett could see the pained expression fade as his daughter tucked herself against him, resting her head on the pillow under his chin.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

He pressed a kiss against the top of her head, looking over at the bed beside his and catching her eyes.

"Beckett took care of me."

Which made both of them smile.


	22. Chapter 22

The press conference was going to be televised live, and while Castle and Alexis were occupied with comforting each other, Kate Beckett was bored. And maybe a little curious. Bored and curious enough to actually wonder what was going to be said. She reached over and picked up the remote to the TV that was suspended from the ceiling in front of her bed. Not surprisingly, the first local station she turned to was showing it. She made sure the volume was low to avoid disturbing the others, but they weren't paying attention to what she was doing just then.

There was a long table, with Martha and her father seated in the middle of it, and with National guardsmen in uniform flanking them on either side. Flanking the National Guard were a few doctors, and Captain Montgomery. Standing off to the side, watching the crowd were several police officers in uniform, and Esposito and Ryan.

She'd missed the very beginning, because the reporters in the crowd were firing questions at the people at the table with Montgomery being the one who chose who was allowed to ask the questions.

Most of them were about the plane crash and where they were found, she noticed, but she was pretty sure that one of the doctors had given a statement about their general health at the beginning, which would make sense. And save a lot of questions. The National Guardsmen – and Beckett thought she might have recognized the one on the right, although her memory of their rescue was pretty fuzzy – weren't really giving out a lot of details about what they found at the crash scene, or at the makeshift campsite. Perhaps because of an ongoing investigation by the FAA, or maybe because they were just being tightlipped until Beckett and Castle made their own statements, she didn't know. She had no intention of telling the world about their ordeal, though.

And she'd kill Castle if he even _considered _writing a book about it. After he was feeling better, of course.

OOOOOOOOOOO

She dozed off during the press conference but woke up when a nurse came in to clear their meals. Beckett thanked her – especially when she offered her another cup of coffee – but she didn't stay longer than it took to clear the dishes. She didn't even disturb Castle and Alexis, both of whom had fallen asleep. Beckett flipped through the channels and looked for something interesting to watch while she savored her coffee.

When Martha arrived after the press conference, Castle and Alexis were still asleep. Him because his body needed it more than anything else, and her because she'd had a rough couple of days and was now in the safest place she could be. The older woman smiled when she saw the two of them, and set a vase of carnations onto the now crowded table by Beckett's bed.

"How are you feeling, Kiddo?" she asked.

"Tired."

"And sore?"

"A little," she admitted. "Does it show?"

Martha shrugged.

"I know how you normally look," she reminded her. "You look good, though, all things considered."

Beckett gave her a tired smile.

"Any landing you can walk away from and all that, right?"

"Exactly." She looked over at her son and granddaughter and Beckett saw her eyes soften. "Alexis was worried about him from the first night when he didn't check in. I downplayed it and I shouldn't have. I should have known he'd have checked in with her – no matter how distracted he might have been."

"He worried about her the entire time," Kate told her. "His phone was ruined in the crash, and mine was in my bags – which are _probably _still in the lake."

"They pulled the plane out this morning, from what I understand," Martha replied, sitting on the edge of her bed.. "The FAA is very curious how the wreck happened and anxious to find out what they can from the wreckage."

"I thought _I'd _done it at first," Beckett admitted. "I was flying when everything went out."

Martha nodded.

"I heard. But I was told that that kind of thing doesn't happen so easily. Richard would have known it wasn't you and _should _have told you."

"He did." She looked over at the bed Castle was sleeping in. He looked like he was sleeping much better than he had the night before. Undoubtedly the company he was keeping. "That was after we crashed."

"It must have been terrifying…"

Beckett nodded.

"It was. Everything went dark at the same time and we just started dropping." She shuddered at the memory, and Martha squeezed her hand. "Castle was amazing though."

"Oh?"

It was clear Martha wanted to hear more, but didn't want to upset her by asking questions that might bring back the memory of the crash. Beckett thought it better that she know, so she nodded again.

"He didn't look scared at all. A bit stressed, but not scared. He made sure my seatbelt was inflated – I didn't even know that they did that – and managed to keep the plane out of the trees when we went down."

"Thank God."

"Yeah." She remembered the nightmare she'd had about them crashing into the trees and hurried on with her tale to keep from reliving it – and to keep from letting it show. "Then he managed to keep his head and grab the emergency gear from the back seat while the plane was filling with water and get it to the shore with us. Without that we would have been in a lot of trouble."

Martha started to say something, but there was a light tap on the door and it opened. Jim Beckett poked his head in and smiled when he saw his daughter was awake.

"Can I come in?"

Beckett smiled, feeling a rush of love toward her dad and understanding how Alexis felt when she'd seen Castle earlier. She felt Martha squeeze her hand once more before the older woman stood up.

"You most certainly can. I've been monopolizing your daughter, but now I'm going to wake my grandchild and we're going to go find something for lunch."

Beckett entered the room and both women smiled when they saw the very large teddy bear that he was carrying. Obviously a gift for his little girl. He set it down in the chair that was near the bed, and took the place Martha had just vacated.

"How are you feeling?"

Kate shrugged.

"Better."

"Good."

They watched Martha as she went over to Castle's bed and gently woke Alexis with a careful touch, trying very hard to keep her son asleep. The girl turned sleepily but woke up and understood immediately what she was doing. Looking at her dad to make sure he was okay, she slipped carefully out of his arms. His expression had been calm, but as soon as she left his arms he started to stir in his sleep, almost certainly aware subconsciously that she was leaving him. Alexis hesitated, looking at her grandmother to see what she should do.

"Can I borrow this, dear?" she asked Beckett, gesturing to the bear.

Kate nodded, and smiled when Martha took the bear and slipped it carefully into her son's arms and then covered him back up. The room was silent while they watched him to see if it would work, but after a moment he settled again with a sigh, and they saw his arms tighten slightly around the bear.

Alexis grinned, leaned over and kissed his cheek carefully and then did the same with Beckett to her surprise.

"Need us to bring you anything when we come back?"

"A burger would be nice."

Martha shook her head.

"Detective Esposito already planned on doing that. We'll find something else."

With that she and Alexis left the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Kate a chance to chat with her father in peace for a while.


	23. Chapter 23

The muffled sound of conversation and the smell of something wonderful woke Castle. Not right away, of course. At first he was drifting in and out of sleep, trying hard to ignore everything around him while he slept. He was so tired that it seemed he was never going to get enough sleep. Had it just been the sound of conversation he'd have been able to go back to sleep no problem. The voices were deep, which meant guys, and guys weren't that interesting to him at the moment. Not more interesting than sleep. But the smell of burgers and fries was permeating the air, too. And his stomach was so empty that it was hurting him. Not worse than his ribs were, but even mostly asleep he knew better than to move and hurt the ribs. He'd learned that lesson quickly. But the smell of the food in the air made his stomach hurt in a different way and one that wouldn't be ignored.

He opened his eyes.

There was a curtain blocking his view of the bed beside him and muffling the conversations. That would never do.

"Hey…"

He was surprised by how weak his voice sounded. And how hoarse. He cleared his throat to try again, but he must have been heard, because the curtain was suddenly pulled back revealing Esposito and Ryan sitting around Beckett's bed. All of them were eating burgers, and Castle's stomach growled. All of them smiled at him, and he frowned, wondering why they looked like they were so amused.

"Hey, Castle," Ryan greeted him. "Good morning."

"Morning?"

He didn't have a clue what time it was, but it didn't seem right that they were eating burgers for breakfast.

"It's well after noon," Beckett told him.

He ignored that for the moment, because there were more important considerations at the moment.

"Is there a burger for _me_?"

Esposito grinned.

"One for _you_, but none for your friend there…"

Ryan and Beckett both snickered, and Castle frowned again, and looked down at himself. And saw that he was cuddled up to a very large teddy bear. No wonder they were so amused. He felt just the briefest flash of annoyance, but his own sense of humor took over and he shrugged slightly.

"I'll share mine with him."

Which made them all smile again.

Esposito grabbed up a bag and brought it over to him. Castle sat up very carefully, groaning to himself with every motion as his ribs protested the change of position. The detective put the bag on the table and rolled it over to a position in front of Castle and Ryan brought over a can of Coke and moved the bear to the other side of Castle so he'd have more room with his free hand since the other still had the IV in it.

"We'd have brought you a shake, but we didn't know how long you were going to be asleep."

Castle nodded.

"Thanks."

"It's Remy's," Beckett told him around her mouthful of food. She didn't need to tell him, though. He'd already read the bag.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you guys?"

Which drew grins from all of them.

"We were telling Beckett about the latest case we're working on," Ryan said as Castle pulled out a cheeseburger and took a giant bite.

"Yeah?"

It was a wonder any of them could understand him around the mouthful of food – and he wasn't normally so rude when it came to eating and talking, but there was no way he was going to stop eating.

"Gunshot victim," Esposito told him. "Interesting case."

The two of them went on to give the outline of the case while Castle munched his way through the burger and a large fries. Beckett gave them a few suggestions where they might go for informants. They had already thought of the same ones, but they nodded their agreement and continued discussing that case and a couple of other ones that had crossed their desks in the past few days. Beckett listened with interest, but as soon as he was full Castle leaned back and listened with only half his attention on what they were discussing.

Normally he'd have been interested – and would have added in his own observations – but sleep was starting to get the better of him and he really didn't have any reason to fight it. He drifted off with his stomach full and the bear still leaning against him.

"That didn't last long," Ryan murmured as they watched him fall asleep.

"He's on a lot of medication," Beckett reminded them. "He looks a lot better though, doesn't he?"

"Yeah."

Ryan looked over at Esposito for a moment and then back at Beckett.

"So… I know you guys were in a lot of trouble and all after you crashed…"

"Yeah…?"

"Was there ever a time you were really mad at him?"

"What?"

"You know, _mad_. Like you wanted to… oh, I don't know… beat him up?" Esposito added.

"What are you guys talking about?" Beckett asked, confused.

"Did you want to kill him?" Ryan asked. "Maybe right after the crash – that same day?"

"You mean after he saved my life by keeping us from dying?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah."

She stared at them blankly for a minute and then realization washed over her expression and she gave them both a look that plainly told them she wasn't amused.

"Tell me you didn't have a _bet_ going on…"

Esposito shrugged.

"We might have."

"Answer the question, Beckett. When did you want to kill him the most?"

"I didn't."

"He didn't do _anything_ to make you mad?" Ryan pressed. "Some smart assed comment that would have had you knocking him on his butt if not for being stuck out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Sorry to disappoint you guys, but he didn't."

Esposito didn't look entirely convinced, but she was as good at interrogation as he was, so there was no way he going to trick her into telling him anything she didn't want to tell them.

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

"What?" Ryan looked surprised by the ready acceptance of that. He scowled at his partner.

"You heard her," Esposito said with a shrug. "She didn't want to kill him."

"But-"

There was a hundred bucks riding on getting the answer.

Beckett grinned and finished her shake.

"Sorry."

She didn't sound like she was.

Ryan scowled again as he and Esposito gathered all the garbage from her table as well as Castle's and tossed it in the garbage.

"We need to get back to work," Esposito told her. "We'll see you tomorrow, though, okay?"

She nodded.

"Thanks for stopping by."

"Anytime."

She was one of them. Of course they'd stop by. They told her goodbye and left the room, nodding at the uniformed officer who was guarding the door.

"Are you nuts?" Ryan asked crossly. "She didn't answer the question and you didn't even try to get her to."

"She wasn't going to tell us, man."

"She might have."

Esposito shook his head.

"You know better than that. We'll just have to try it a different way."

"Yeah?"

"Lanie's coming by to see her tonight. We'll get her to ask. Beckett will tell her when she might not tell us."

The other detective brightened.

"You're a genius."

"Yeah. I know."

Still chuckling, the two of them headed for the elevator.


	24. Chapter 24

_Author's note: Thanks for the reviews, guys. Castle was pretty hurt so he's spent time sleeping to heal, but he'll be awake a bit more now that he's catching up on the sleep. I'll even toss in some alone time with him and Beckett as the scenes allow._

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Full of fast food, Beckett dozed off after the guys left, but only slept for a few hours before the she felt a hand on her forehead that woke her up with a start. Lanie smiled and pulled her hand back.

"You look pretty good all things considered."

Kate smiled, and sat up a little more.

"I got lucky."

"Yeah, that's what I've heard."

She walked over to Castle's bed and sat down on the edge of it, looking down at him as he slept. The bruises were fading a little and the scratches weren't nearly as red and terrible as they had been, but he still looked pretty rough. Beckett wasn't surprised to see her friend shake her head and then brush her fingers against his cheek. Hadn't she done the same thing only a few nights before in a very different setting?

"He, on the other hand, looks _exactly_ like I expected…"

"_Handsome_?" asked Castle, sleepily, who opened his eyes in time to catch her hand before she could withdraw it.

"Beat up," Lanie corrected with a smile.

Castle snorted, and tried to sit up a little, but winced at the motion. Lanie pressed her free hand very carefully against his upper chest to stop him.

"Stay where you are," she told him. "I can see you just fine and you don't need to move to see me better."

He nodded and sighed, leaning into his pillows and closing his eyes but not relinquishing his hold on her hand. She grinned over at Kate, who rolled her eyes.

"So…" Lanie said, looking over at the machines that were monitoring Castle's condition – probably deciding his condition in some way that only doctors know. Even doctors that are far more used to dealing with dead people. "Beckett…"

"Yes?"

"How did you guys get along?"

She gave her friend a suspicious look.

"Did Ryan and Esposito send you?"

Lanie shook her head.

"No. I was just wondering. You know… the two of you… all _alone _in the middle of nowhere…" she trailed off suggestively, arching an eyebrow at Beckett as if daring her to deny anything.

Which she did. Immediately.

"Nothing happened."

"Nothing?"

"No."

"Castle?"

"We slept together," came the instant response. He didn't even bother to open his eyes.

"No we didn't."

"Yes, we did."

"No. We _didn't_."

"Yes. We _did_."

"We didn't."

Castle opened his eyes and looked around Lanie to Beckett. With both of them watching her she sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"Okay, fine. We slept together."

"You dog!"

"But we didn't have _sex_," Beckett told her. "We were just sharing body heat."

"Castle?"

"She's right," he admitted. "We didn't have sex."

"Aw."

"She saw me _naked_, though…"

"What?" Lanie turned to Beckett, who flushed and looked at Castle.

"I can't believe you remember that."

He smiled.

"A man always remembers the first time a woman undresses him…"

Lanie looked down at him.

"Did you see _her _naked, too?"

He shrugged.

"Oh, please… I've undressed her a million times in my mind."

"I'm going to _kill_ you…"

Lanie shook her head.

"If only it was _Thursday_."

Both of them frowned at looked over at her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Beckett wasn't one of the best detectives in New York for nothing, though. Her eyes narrowed.

"You were in on the bet!"

"What bet?" Castle asked, confused.

"They were betting on when I'd want you dead…"

"We didn't know your plane had _crashed_," Lanie told them. "It was for during the convention. We were just expecting that Castle would say something that would make you mad and you'd threaten him with bodily harm."

"Like I'd ever do that…" Beckett scoffed.

Now it was Lanie's turn to roll her eyes and she looked at Beckett pointedly.

"No. Never." She let go of Castle's hand and stood up. "To change the subject completely, I spoke with your doctor and he's going to release you tomorrow. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"They're releasing me?" she echoed. "Already?"

Lanie shrugged.

"You're able to take care of yourself and the medications have knocked back the infection they were worried about you getting. You're ready."

"Oh."

"Probably can't wait to take a long hot bath, huh?"

"Yeah."

She looked over at Castle, who had been watching quietly and she was uncertain what she saw in his expression before he turned his head and closed his eyes, pretending to not be paying attention. Lanie followed her gaze and misread the concern in her expression.

"He'll be here another day or two, probably, but he's doing a lot better than they thought he would be considering his condition when you guys arrived. A couple more days of rest and he'll be ready to go home." She smiled. "A week after that and he should be shadowing you again."

Beckett tried to make her expression look annoyed but she failed. Lanie ran her hand along Castle's cheek again softly, and leaned over and pressed a light kiss against his jaw.

"I'm glad you're okay, Castle," she whispered with a smile.

He opened his eyes and caught her hand to squeeze it once more.

"Thanks, Lanie."

She left them, then, and Beckett turned to Castle, who had closed his eyes again.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

She got out of bed and walked over to his bed and took the spot Lanie had just left. She looked down at him but he didn't open his eyes.

"What's going on, Castle?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

He shook his head.

"I'm glad you get to go home…"

"But…?"

"Nothing."

She rested her hand on his arm, unwilling to risk touching him anywhere else.

"But…?"

He opened his eyes and Beckett saw vulnerability in his expression. It didn't help that he looked so beat up.

"You're leaving me."


	25. Chapter 25

She couldn't even be annoyed at what might have sounded like a very self-absorbed comment. When Lanie had mentioned her going home _she_ hadn't felt like jumping for joy – even with the thought of a long hot bath. Instead she'd felt a flash of concern. Concern for herself, but mostly for _him_. Which was dumb, really, since there was no reason to worry. They were back in New York, now, where they didn't have to worry about freezing or being eaten by a wandering bear. They didn't have to gather wood and eat packaged food – unless they counted Twinkies or something like that. She wondered if that was how he felt, too. Worried.

She shook that off and her hand slid down his arm to take his hand. She was good enough at reading him that she knew it wasn't concern. Not for himself anyway. There was no disguising the naked vulnerability in his expression and her hand tightened on his in an effort to ease whatever it was that had him so upset. She was so used to him being confident that it was unsettling to see him this way.

"I'm not leaving you, Castle. I'll be here every day to check on you until they let you go, too."

He nodded, but she could tell he didn't look convinced. Before she could say anything else the door opened and a couple of nurses came in with a cart. They smiled to see her up and on her feet, and were doubly relieved to see that Castle was awake as well.

"Sorry to interrupt," one of them – a man – told her with a shy smile. "I need to do some tests on Mr. Castle."

Beckett nodded and let Castle's hand go with a final squeeze before she stood up.

"What _kind _of tests?" Castle asked.

"The doctors want to see how you're doing," the other nurse told him. She was actually cleaning off the table by Beckett's bed; setting the latest batch of flowers and vases on a shelf that ran along the wall by the door where they'd be out of the way but still visible. "We're also going to take out the catheter."

Castle looked over at her, and then over to the male nurse.

"Tell me _you're_ going to be doing that?"

He smiled.

"Yes, sir. If you'd prefer."

"Um. _Yeah_."

The woman nurse rolled her eyes and she fluffed Beckett's pillows to make sure they were going to be comfortable.

"_I_ put it in."

Kate smiled, both because of Castle's discomfort and because it was also helping to lighten the mood and make him smile.

The male nurse closed the curtain between the two beds and the nurse asked Beckett a few questions about how she was feeling, and took her blood pressure and temperature and jotted everything down in the computer that she plugged into the monitor that Beckett had been attached to.

"We can take the IV out," she told the detective, making it more of a question to see if it was okay that they did it then.

"That'd be great."

It didn't take long and it was quite a relief to not be tethered to the IV any longer. Beckett was holding a cotton pad against her arm when the door opened again and Castle's mother and daughter entered as well, both carrying armloads of flowers and bears.

"Another bunch of presents for you, dear," Martha told her, putting them on the newly cleared table for lack of any place else to put them. Alexis put hers down as well – clearly they were all Beckett's – and looked over toward the curtain.

"Don't go in there, yet," Beckett warned her.

Alexis nodded; quickly grasping that something was going on in there that she didn't want to see.

"How are you doing?" she asked, instead.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Beckett assured her. She looked at all the flowers with a little exasperation. While she really did enjoy flowers, she didn't have a clue what she was going to do with them all. "Are these _all_ for me?"

Martha nodded.

"The dangers of being famous, my dear."

"What about Castle?"

"What about him?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah, what _about_ me?" came the question from the other side of the curtain.

"Where are _his _flowers? He _has _to be getting more than I am."

Alexis smiled.

"Tons of them. You wouldn't believe all the stuffed animals and flowers and cards."

"And _candy_?" came another question from the other side of the curtain.

"Some. I ate it all."

A groan was the only reply, and Martha chuckled.

"We take the cards and everything else with his name on them and then pass the flowers and balloons on to other people in the hospital who don't have as many. The stuffed animals go to the children's ward where they'll do far more good than they will filling up his shelves and bed."

Beckett smiled, impressed at that.

"What a wonderful idea."

"It was Dad's," Alexis told her, proudly. "The last time he was in the hospital he decided it would be better to spread the cheer around."

"Why don't you do that with these, too?" Beckett asked her. "There really are a lot more than I expected."

Martha nodded.

"We can do that, but you _should_ keep the ones from your friends – at least until they aren't visiting any more. That way no feelings get hurt."

Beckett had to agree with that, too. Martha was a genius at that kind of thing she realized, and wondered if it was a talent she had _before_ Castle became famous or if it was something she learned along the way from soothing hurt feelings during those times when his enthusiasm got the better of his manners.

The curtain opened and the male nurse moved the cart out of the way as Alexis went over to greet her dad, clearly relieved to see him more upright and awake than the last time. He smiled and hugged her, still wincing at the motion but ignoring that in favor of spending time with his baby.

"You look better," Martha told him, coming over as well and pressing a kiss against his cheek.

He smiled.

"Thank you, Mother."

"How are they doing?" Martha asked one of the nurses.

"Much better," he assured her. "We just need to feed them up a bit."

"Dinner is coming soon," the other nurse told them.

"Can we eat with them?" Alexis asked, hopefully.

"Can they bring us something besides _hospital food_?" Castle asked, just as hopefully.

Neither nurse was offended by the question.

"If you'd like," came the amused reply.

"Good," Martha said, pulling out her cell phone. "What shall we have?"

"Pizza," Castle said, instantly.

"Chinese," Alexis suggested.

They both looked over at Beckett, who hesitated. She had really expected them to want to spend some alone family time together, and it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling when she realized that both of them had included her automatically and probably hadn't even considered leaving her out. She smiled.

"Pizza sounds good to me."

Castle gave a triumphant nudge to Alexis who just rolled her eyes. He could have his little victory. She'd eat pizza with him and then they would stop and get Chinese on the way home if she wanted any.

"Pizza it is," Martha said, already looking up the number.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

_Author's note: more alone time coming…_


	26. Chapter 26

_The panel in front of them went dead, and she looked over at him, shocked._

_"What's happening?"_

_His own expression looked just as shocked._

_"Everything's dead. It's impossible."_

_"What do we do?"_

_"We're going to crash…"_

_"What?!"_

_He took the controls and her stomach dropped as she felt the plane start to go down._

_"Hang on, Beckett…" he told her, reaching over and inflating her seatbelt before he took the controls again. They were heading for the water at an alarming rate, now, and she clung to her seat as hard as she could, bracing herself for the impact that had to come._

_"Castle! Your seatbelt!"_

_He hadn't secured his own, just hers, but before he could reach down and inflate them, they struck the water and she felt him slam against her at the impact._

_"Castle!"_

_He didn't answer and a quick glance was all she needed to know that he never would. Blood was turning the water that was filling the cabin into a crimson froth and she didn't feel any pain that told her any of it was hers._

_She closed her eyes tightly and suddenly they were on a rocky shore, both of them hearty and whole – although they were both soaked and shivering. He had his arm around her, helping her to a log that was covered in a silver blanket and packages of tuna casserole. She started to sit down, grateful for the support, when out of nowhere a man appeared in the shadows at the edge of the forest that surrounded the lake. As both of them stared, he pulled a gun and aimed it at her. She couldn't see his face, or his expression, but she watched as the gun that was pointing at her suddenly turned on Castle, and the sound of the shot echoed through the entire valley._

_Castle was slammed backward over the log and fell hard, blood blossoming from a hole in his chest. _

_"Castle!"_

_Beckett looked back at the forest, but the man was gone – and the gun with him._

Beckett jerked awake, forcing herself up and out of the nightmare by sheer will. She sat up in the bed, looking over at the sleeping form in the bed beside her own and tried to calm her breathing and heart rate. The nightmare had been so real – just like the one she'd had the night after the crash. But not the same.

She slid out of her bed and walked over to his, needing to make sure with her own eyes that he was really okay. They'd take him off the monitoring devices right after the last of the pizza had been devoured and Martha and Alexis had gone for the night. The nurses said they'd sleep a lot more comfortably without the constant beeping in their ears, but Beckett definitely wanted to hear it just then.

In the faint light coming from a nightlight in the bathroom she couldn't see his chest rising and falling and she couldn't tell if he had a pulse. Unable to help herself, she reached out and took his wrist, searching for the faint throb that would prove her nightmares false.

He caught her hand in his, startling her.

"Beckett?"

She gasped, but didn't let go of his hand.

"Castle…"

His eyes looked dark in the faint light, but she could see the concern in his expression.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Yeah…"

His hand tightened on hers.

"Another nightmare?"

She swallowed, but her throat was dry.

"Yes. How did you know?"

Castle sat up, using his grip on her hand to pull her closer to him. She stumbled and sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling his arms go around her.

"The look in your eyes," he told her. "I've only seen it once before."

She nodded, dumbly, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…" she heard him murmur in her ear. "I'm really sorry."

Beckett frowned, tilting her head up to look at him, confused at the self-loathing she heard in his voice.

"For what?"

"It's all my fault. You're having nightmares and it's my fault…"

She shook her head.

"It wasn't your-"

"It was. It was my dumb idea and my responsibility to get you there safely and all I did was-"

Abruptly, Beckett put her finger against his mouth to make him stop and shook her head again.

"Save my life," she interrupted. "I'd say that counts for something.

She used her hand to pull his head down, pressing a kiss tenderly against his cheek. Another followed, just as he turned his head to look at her, and this time her lips met his. She pulled back at the same time he did, and their eyes met.

"Sorry…" he whispered.

She smiled, leaning forward and pressing another kiss against his ear.

"Stop apologizing, Castle," she told him, turning his head toward her so she could claim another kiss.

He groaned and the kiss deepened, his hand sliding along her leg and hers going to his chest. She pressed forward, and this time the groan that was torn from his throat was filled with pain, although he didn't move away.

_She _did, though; pulling her hand back and then moving her head back as well. His face was pale from pain and she shook her head.

"I'm sorry."

He chuckled, and moved a little, patting the spot beside him.

"Here."

She hesitated, but decided that the invitation wasn't to finish what they had almost started. She stretched out beside him, and he cuddled against her, his arm going around her and holding her close, but not tightly. Her head rested on the pillow by his and she caught his hand and held it. They were quiet for a while, and then he spoke up, his voice soft and uncertain.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" she asked.

"The nightmares."

"Not really."

He nodded.

"Wanna talk about the _kiss_?"

She tightened her hold on his hand.

"It wasn't the same nightmare as before…"

"No?"

He didn't mention the change of mind. Probably, she decided, he'd just manipulated her into doing what he wanted. It should have annoyed her but it didn't.

"No."

She turned away from him, her hand still holding his, and pressed back against him, asking him silently to hold her. She needed the support and knew he'd be willing to give it to her without comment. Which he did; being very careful where his hands were as he wrapped her up in his arms.

"It might help to talk it out…" he whispered from the dark.

She nodded, and without looking at him told him about the nightmare she'd had. He didn't say anything while she was speaking, and was quiet for a few minutes afterward, but his hand was idly stroking her fingers so she knew he wasn't asleep.

"I suppose I should be flattered," he finally said.

She frowned.

"Why?"

"It's pretty obvious that you're worried about me, Beckett. I'm not sure _why_, but it's definitely the recurring theme…"

She turned her head and looked at him, surprised.

"What?"

"Your subconscious mind is _worried _about me, and it's apparently doing its damndest to get _you _to worry about me, too."

Beckett started to deny that, but stopped.

"You think?"

He shrugged.

"Why not? The big question, though, is _why_?"


	27. Chapter 27

They lay quietly in the darkened room, each lost in their own thoughts, but still sharing his bed since she wasn't in any hurry to get up. A by-product of the time they'd spent together in the wilderness, she was far more comfortable with him than she had been. Besides, she'd seen him at his best as far as she was concerned, despite the fact that he'd been hurt – or maybe because of it – and she'd liked it. Even now, he was still being very careful not to grope her as he held her, and she knew it wasn't because he was afraid to hurt his ribs.

"You never had any before the plane crash?" he finally asked, his hand tightening on hers in apology for asking a question that might upset her.

She couldn't shake her head because it was resting on his pillow.

"No. Not that I remember."

"You'd have remembered them."

"Definitely."

"If not for the fact that the focus was on _me _getting hurt and not you, I'd suggest PTSD."

"It's not."

"The first one maybe," he agreed. "But I'm safe and so are you, so while you could be having nightmares about the actual crash, you shouldn't be having them about me getting shot. There wasn't a gun with us."

"Right. Besides, I had PTSD once, and I think I'd recognize it…"

"Yeah."

It sounded to her like he was agreeing that if the problem was indeed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder it was something that someone could recognize if they'd had it before. Which made her think that she might not have been the _only_ one who'd had it in their past.

She ran her fingers along the hand that was resting against her stomach, but didn't ask him to explain himself.

"It was probably just my mind getting the better of me," she decided. "I can see the rest of it, but we weren't in any danger of being shot…"

"No. But _you're _in danger of being shot all the time. You _did _say the gun was pointing at you first."

"I don't think so, Castle. It was all about you, really. I think you're right about me being worried about you."

"You don't have any reason to be, though," he told her, his voice sounding confused. "I'm not in any danger. No more than any other New Yorker, that is."

She sighed.

"I know."

He hugged her from behind.

"Don't worry, Beckett. I'll be careful and watch the sky for falling pianos."

She smiled.

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

It wasn't the end of it, of course, but they weren't going to solve the mystery in the middle of the night in a hospital bed. Especially since they'd just realized that there even was a mystery. Focusing on the issue wouldn't make it easier to solve. She knew as well as he did that the phrase sleeping on it made absolute sense. She used it all the time in her police work.

"I should get up…"

His hand tightened on her.

"Not yet."

"Castle…"

"I'm not going to _do _anything," he promised her. "I'm just not ready to let go of you, yet."

She could hear the change in his voice, and rolled over so she could look at him.

"You ready to talk about it?"

"The _kiss_?" he asked.

She smiled, but ignored the attempt at humor. _She'd _told him what was bothering her, now it was _his _turn.

"What's going on, Castle?" He hesitated, trying to look away, but her hand was right there, bringing his gaze back to her own. "Tell me."

"I'm just not ready to give up being responsible for you," he said, softly, pulling his head from her hand so he wouldn't have to meet her eyes. "Don't get me wrong; I wanted to get home – Alexis needs me and I need her – but I liked having _you_ need me, too."

Beckett didn't force his head back up, but she did take his hand again.

"I'll always need you."

He shook his head.

"No. You don't need anyone," he replied. "You're tough, and smart and amazing. I know you're the one who watches my back when we're out chasing bad guys, and I respect that. But I _liked _taking care of you for a change. Although I would have preferred it came about a different way."

She didn't try to tell him otherwise; although she couldn't believe how far off the mark he was about her. Instead she carefully pressed against him and waited for him to put his arms around her again and hold her. It wouldn't kill either of them to cuddle for a while and it was almost a relief to allow herself to lean on someone else for a while. Like she had after the wreck. Maybe he wasn't the _only _one who'd enjoyed having him take care of her, she decided as she felt him shift against her until her cheek was resting on the inside of his bicep and her forehead was against his chest. She sighed, deeply, and closed her eyes, relaxing completely with him.

"Don't fall asleep, now," he warned her, and she felt his voice rumbling in his chest. "I don't know how I'd explain it to the nurses."

She smiled but didn't open her eyes.

"I'll try."

Despite that, she actually felt herself drifting off almost immediately. A release after the bad dream that had rocked her night, and the presence of the guy who had literally pulled her out of the water and taken care of her right there with her. He didn't help her stay awake, either, running his fingers lightly through her hair and soothing her with the same touch that had soothed her after the nightmare she'd had the night after the crash.

OOOOOOOOO

He didn't know how long he held her after she'd fallen asleep, but Castle wasn't sleepy at all, and in no hurry to wake her up and lose her company. He had no doubt that things would change once they left the hospital and things went back to the way they had been, so he was going to enjoy having her with him as long as he could.

As he held her he thought of the nightmare she'd had and played it over and over in his mind as well he could from what she'd described. He wasn't sure what the dreams meant, either, but he was sure he was right about her being worried about him – at least subconsciously. He just couldn't figure out why she'd be so focused on him when she had been in just as much trouble.

OOOOOOOOOO

She roused as she felt someone pick her up carefully and heard a soft grunt of pain at the same time. Waking up enough to realize what was going on, she started to protest and tried to tell him not to – God only knew how bad that had to hurt.

"Stop wriggling or I'm going to drop you and spoil the moment," he told her softly. Either because he didn't want to wake her fully or because he couldn't breath around the agony in his ribs from picking her up.

She held still and he put her into her own bed, puffing a little as he covered her with her blankets.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah." He leaned over her, one hand on the bed on either side of her, and she could see that he was a bit pale, but looked okay otherwise. "I've been thinking, though…"

"Yeah? About what?"

"We _should _have had sex."

It was the last thing she expected him to say, and she knew it showed because his expression was suddenly incredibly amused.

"What?"

"Not _earlier_," he corrected, running one hand along his side. "There's no way I could have done much more than we did. I mean when we were alone after the crash."

"What are you _talking_ about?"

"It would have given you better memories to be dreaming about," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes, amused.

"Or worse nightmares."

He leaned over, and brazenly kissed her before she could even realize what he was doing. She sighed into it, and he deepened it for just a moment before pulling away.

"No. I can't see any nightmares in that, Beckett," he assured her.

She smiled, deciding that she'd let it pass – this time. Besides, he was right; it had been a nice kiss. But she couldn't let the comment slide; his expression was way too smug just then.

"You're _that_ sure of yourself?" she challenged.

He smirked, and she had to admit that she really liked the cheery expression on him much better than the somber mood of the evening before.

"I'm that sure of you," he corrected. He kissed her again, and then tucked the blanket around her before standing upright again with only the slightest gasp of pain at the motion.

Bemused, she turned and watched as he got back into his own bed. He didn't say anything else, but they both fell asleep facing each other. And neither had any bad dreams.


	28. Chapter 28

_"The streets of New York are a little safer this morning," _the reporter said with a smile pasted on her perfectly made up face._ "With the release of Detective Kate Beckett from the hospital, we can all breathe a little easier knowing that she will be back on duty probably at the beginning of next week."_

The scene changed from the reporter to the front of a hospital, where a large crowd of people were standing in the rain, watching as Captain Montgomery pushed a wheelchair with Beckett sitting in it out the front door and right up to the waiting door of an unmarked patrol car. A dozen police officers stood ready guard to keep the onlookers from getting too close to the scene, but the TV cameras had no trouble at all focusing on Beckett as she got out of the chair and smiled an awkward acknowledgement to all the people gathered before getting into the car.

It made Castle smile, as well, although a quick look over at the empty bed beside him made him sigh. He was already missing her - and stuck in the hospital like he still was, it wasn't like he could just head on over to the precinct to see her whenever he wanted to. Of course, she wouldn't be there, anyway. Not until later on in the week when she was officially cleared for duty.

The reporter continued with the new report.

_"As most of you already know, Detective Beckett was a passenger in a small private plane that was heading to Buffalo, New York for a Detective convention with famous mystery writer Richard Castle when their plane crashed into the wilderness area of the Allegheny National Forest of Pennsylvania. The FAA is still investigating -"_

He turned the TV off, feeling moody and annoyed at the reminder that he'd crashed their plane and they'd never made it to the convention. That would have been so much _fun_! Before he could really start to spiral into a bout of depression or self loathing, however, the door opened and Alexis came in, holding a large blue and silver gift bag in one hand and wearing a _very_ smug expression.

He brightened instantly.

"Hello, Daughter."

"Hello, Father."

"Why aren't you in school?"

"Because it's the _weekend_."

"Oh."

"Who's your friend?" she asked with a grin, pointing at the giant bear that was nestled on the other side of him, sharing the bed.

"Beckett left him to keep me company," Castle told her with a negligent shrug. "He's kind of cute - and he doesn't eat much."

Alexis smiled.

"Detective Beckett told _me _you might want some company, so _I_ am here to keep you from being lonely – _and_ I come bearing gifts."

He smiled.

"From whom?"

She came over and he scooted over in his bed so she could sit on the edge of it.

"Detectives Esposito and Ryan."

He reached over and took it from her, surprised at how heavy it was.

"Stripper?"

She smirked.

"Probably not. They said it'd keep you occupied, though…"

"_Two_ strippers?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Open it and see."

He did, and smiled in delight as he pulled out an X-Box.

"Nice!"

She nodded her agreement.

"I have the rest of the stuff for it out in the hallway. It wouldn't all fit in the bag. Shall I hook it up?"

"By all means. I hope they sent some games along."

It didn't take her long to hook the game system up and the two detectives had sent along a basketball game and a fighting game, so he could play Alexis head to head, or play alone later on after visiting hours were over.

"Make sure you told them I said thanks," he told her as they started playing the basketball game.

"They said they'd be here sometime around lunch time so you wouldn't be stuck eating hospital food."

He smiled, and leaned back into the pillows. It wasn't going to be such a terribly lonely day, after all, he realized.

OOOOOOOO

It wasn't a lonely day at all. Alexis spent the morning with him – joined by his mother, who declined to play video games with them, but had brought him a cup of good coffee and a crossword puzzle book for later. They didn't have any serious discussions while they played – it's hard to hold a serious conversation while killing zombies – but they had a good time, and he had a chance to spend time with both of them.

When they left around lunchtime, Esposito and Ryan arrived with a bag of cheeseburgers and fries – and more coffee. He welcomed the food and the company equally, and the guys kept him entertained with stories from their latest busts while they worked their way through lunch, and then spent several hours playing the basketball game.

They were shooed away just before dinner, but Esposito mentioned to him that their next stop was Beckett's, and asked if he wanted them to pass on any messages.

Castle could think of several things, but none that wouldn't garner him odd looks, so he shrugged and told them to tell her to get better and that he'd see her when he got out. Ryan promised they'd tell her, and they left as one of the nurses came in to ask Castle what he wanted for dinner.

He wasn't hungry enough to eat, though. The nurses, well aware that he'd overindulged at lunch, weren't concerned about the lack of appetite. One of them left him the small menu and told him that if he changed his mind he could always push the button that would call them. He appreciated it – and all the attention and help the entire staff had been – and told her so. She had smiled and shyly asked him for his autograph – something she told him she wasn't really supposed to do.

Castle grinned, and asked if she had any of his books.

"_All _of them," came the ready reply.

"Bring them in and I'll sign them for you," he offered. "And we can take a picture or something."

Which had earned him a squeal of delight that had made him smile even broader. He loved fans, and it was very little effort to do something for her. To keep her from getting in trouble, he told her to spread the same offer to the rest of the staff. It'd give him something to occupy himself later on, and would definitely give them some entertainment as well.

He managed to shave and make sure he looked a bit more presentable before they started taking him up on his offer, but then he had to admit that he had a very enjoyable evening. The offer hadn't been extended to the press, so only those with hospital ID badges managed to get by the police officer that was still guarding his door, and that made the conversation as relaxed and as casual as he could get it. He signed books or papers, let them take pictures with him and joked with the janitors as readily as he did with the doctors and nurses.

By the time everyone had all that they wanted from him, he was forced to admit that he was pretty tired and was ready for them to turn off the light for him and let him get some sleep. He sighed, sleepily, tucked Beckett's giant bear in beside him and drifted off feeling pretty pleased with his day.


	29. Chapter 29

Two days after she was discharged from the hospital Beckett was back to work. Not on the street – at least not the first day back – but at least at the precinct. She smiled at the various greetings that met her at the door when she walked in about an hour later than her usual starting time, and wasn't surprised when Captain Montgomery almost immediately called her into his office.

She knew the look he gave her well. It was the same look he gave every officer who was coming back after an injury – whether a gunshot, a stabbing or even a nasty beating after chasing down someone hyped up on drugs. It was probably the first time he ever gave the look to someone returning from a plane crash, though. He watched her walk to look for limping, watched her eyes to look for pain that she might be trying to hide and then watched as she sat down to see if she could manage it without too much wincing.

"How are you doing, Beckett?" he asked as she settled into the chair by his desk.

"Better, sir. Thanks."

"How about Castle?"

"He's going to be fine."

"Good." He sat down across from her, and leaned back. "It's not exactly what we had in mind when we had you invite him along, you know…"

She smiled.

"I hope not."

"Good publicity, though."

"Yeah."

He shrugged, and she decided that he _might _have been feeling a little guilty. Especially since she'd been forced into taking Castle. Good. Maybe they'd think twice next time when it was more important that she be allowed to do what she want.

"You feeling up to being here today?"

"Yeah. I ache a little, but nothing too bad."

A long, hot bath and two full night's sleep had worked wonders. The doctor had given her a sleeping pill that she'd taken, and she hadn't even had any nightmares.

"You'll be riding the desk today and tomorrow," Montgomery told her. "We'll make sure you're up to chasing the bad guys before we turn you loose on them."

She'd expected that, so she agreed readily enough. She had plenty of paperwork that needed done that she knew she wasn't going to be sitting around twiddling her thumbs.

"Yes, sir."

He smiled.

"Good to have you back."

"Thanks."

"Now get out of my office."

She gave him a sketchy salute and left, heading to her desk and her overflowing IN box.

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett worked through the morning without interruption. The other detectives and uniformed officers had all had a chance to check in on her, but they were all as busy – if not busier – than she was, so none of them hung out for long. Just long enough to let her know they were glad she was okay. Just as she was starting to wonder what she was going to do for lunch – and seriously considering heading over to the hospital to visit Castle since she hadn't seen him since she'd been discharged – Esposito and Ryan came in, looking worried and heading straight for her.

She wondered what was going on, but didn't have to wait long. Ryan handed her a file folder with a large FAA logo on it.

"Report's back on the plane you guys were in," he told her.

"Yeah?" she opened it up, but wasn't sure exactly what she was looking at since it wasn't something she looked at every day. "What'd they find out?"

"They found a device attached to the electrical system."

"What kind of device?" she asked, looking at them.

"Some kind of sparker set on a timer. The FAA techs said that it fried out all the systems at once – which is exactly what you both reported happening. Took out the electronics, which took out the engine right away."

"What?"

"The plane was _booby-trapped_," Esposito said. "Someone _meant _for you guys to go down."

"FAA is saying that the device probably didn't work exactly as planned – or that the person who put it there didn't understand exactly what they were trying to do – since it knocked out all your electrical systems but didn't take out the emergency locator."

"It didn't turn on," she pointed out.

"It did once Castle hit it _manually_," Ryan replied. "It just didn't turn on like it was supposed to, because the electrical part of the emergency system was out. Same reason he had to manually inflate the seatbelts."

She frowned.

"Do they have any idea who did it?"

Both detectives shook their heads.

"Someone who had access to the plane, but doesn't know a lot about them is the best they have."

Montgomery had been watching them through the office windows and could clearly see something was going on. He was by Beckett's desk right away.

"What's going on?"

She frowned.

"It looks like someone sabotaged our plane."

"Really?" He looked over at Ryan and Esposito for confirmation and they both nodded.

"Yeah."

The Captain scowled at the idea that someone had tried to kill one of his own and immediately started giving orders.

"Esposito, get a list of people that work at the airport that Beckett and Castle flew out of – and anyone else who might have had access to the plane the day they left and the day before that. Ryan, get a list of anyone Beckett collared who has recently been paroled."

"Castle…" Beckett said. "We need to warn the guard on Castle…"

Montgomery nodded. It made sense. If someone _wanted _the plane to go down they were either after Beckett or Castle. Both needed to be protected until they knew who they were looking for and had caught him (or her). Luckily, Castle was still in the hospital, and that made him easy to guard. It also made him an easier _target_, however, so they definitely needed to let the uniformed officers know what was going on.

"Do it."

She picked up the phone as the other two left to take care of their own assignments. Reaching the hospital was easy, but after that she ran into an immediate problem. She looked over at her Captain.

"They discharged Castle last night."

"What?" he scowled, looking over at the calendar on the wall. "He's not supposed to be discharged until tomorrow."

"They wanted to keep it low-key so they snuck him out last night."

"Shit. Get some people over to his place. You go, too," he added, knowing she'd want to. "Send someone over to his daughter's school, too, just in case. Make sure they don't freak her out - tell them to come up with a good excuse for checking on things."

Beckett nodded, already reaching into her desk for her sidearm. She hadn't needed it sitting around all day, but she had it close, like always. Now she was glad she did.

"Esposito! Ryan!" Both appeared at Montgomery's bellow. "Go with Beckett."

They didn't know where they were going, but they both immediately followed her at a run down the corridor and to the elevator.


	30. Chapter 30

It was Castle's mother who answered their frantic knocking, her eyes annoyed and then concerned when she realized who was there – and noticed that all three of them had their service pistols out. The three detectives walked in without saying anything, looking around suspiciously, as though expecting to find someone lurking behind the door.

"Detectives?" she asked, finally, when they'd assured themselves that no one had been pointing a gun at Martha to keep her from warning them off.

"Where's Castle, Martha?" Beckett asked.

She frowned.

"He's out shopping. What's going on?"

"We're not sure yet," Beckett told her, holstering her gun. "How long has he been gone?"

"A few hours. He was going stir crazy and said he had to get out for a while. He needed to get a new laptop and-"

"Can we call him?" Ryan asked.

"-cell phone," Martha finished. "His were ruined in the crash. _What's going on_?"

"We got the report back from the FAA about the plane," Beckett replied. "Where was he going? Do you know?"

She nodded.

"Bernie's – it's a place over by Central Park west. They're the ones he always uses…"

"Can we get the address?"

"Of course, but-"

"I'll explain it all to you as soon as I can," Beckett promised her. "Right now we need to find him." She looked over at a motion at the door and saw one of the uniformed officers had arrived. "We're going to leave an officer with you," she said, gesturing him in. "Call if he shows up or calls. Please?"

"Of course." She hastily wrote down an address and handed it to Esposito, who nodded in thanks and glanced at it. Then they were gone, leaving only the officer and her. "Do _you _know what's going on?" she asked him.

He shook his head.

"Only that I'm supposed to watch you guys. Sorry."

He knew a little more than that, but he was under strict orders not to panic Martha or Alexis – had she been there – by telling them the truth.

She sighed, worried about her son – again. She gestured to the living room, hostess enough at all times that she'd never leave someone standing in the middle of the room if she could avoid it.

"Come on in and make yourself at home."

OOOOOOOOOOO

There wasn't actually a guy named Bernie. It was the name of the proprietor's cat. Castle knew this story well, because he'd spent a fair amount of time in the store before and the guy that owned it loved to talk. Which was fine, because Castle liked to listen.

"This thing is beat to shit, Castle…" he said, turning the laptop over in his hands and looking at the bottom of it. Even in the case, the wreck had cracked the housing and had it managed to stay dry, it still would have been destroyed.

"I know, Jimmy."

"_You_ don't look that great, either," the owner told him.

It was the truth, and Castle knew it. But he felt a lot better than he had, and although his ribs hurt every time he breathed, he was glad to be on his feet and out of the hospital. It had been a genius idea to sneak him out earlier than they'd planned, and he wished that he could have taken credit for it.

"Should have seen me a week ago."

"Yeah, that's what I hear." He gave the laptop another mournful look and shook his head. "I can't fix it. I'll see if I can salvage the data on the hard drives, though, and we'll ghost it over to another machine." He picked up the cell phone that was on the counter and nodded. "I'll pull the card on this, too, and see what I can save."

"Thanks. How long, do you think?"

"For anyone else, I'd say a week. For you… a few hours. Go get a hot dog or something and I'll try to have it for you when you get back."

Castle grinned.

"I think I'll do just that. Is that vendor still over by the big rock?"

"He was last week. But it's raining. You'll catch a cold."

He wasn't really worried about catching anything, considering the antibiotics that the doctors had him on just then. And now that he didn't have to _sleep _outside, he wouldn't mind a little rain.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

Castle left the electronic store and headed into the park to get some lunch. He wasn't walking very fast – mainly because he didn't want to have to catch his breath – but there wasn't any hurry. He didn't have anything to do today, anyway. He thought maybe when he was finished with the phone and laptop he'd call Beckett and see if she wanted to go to lunch, or an early dinner or something. He hadn't seen her since the morning she left the hospital and he missed her.

The hotdog vendor had his cart by a large rock that was probably a boulder left by the last ice age glacier – although Castle had never really researched it find out. Eating a hotdog (or two) and sitting on a park bench watching people go by on the jogging trails was a good way to spend an afternoon. Castle had done it more than once when he'd needed a break from writing, or needed a new minor character for one of his people to interact with. People in New York were so diverse that he only needed to watch for a while and he'd see someone he could borrow some characteristic from.

Today, of course, he was just people watching for the pure enjoyment of it. He bought two hotdogs and decided to walk a while longer before he settled on a bench that gave him a good view of the area. Not that there was a lot to see. It was gloomy and the rain was coming down hard enough to keep the nannies and their charges inside for their play dates, so all he saw were a few joggers who went by discussing a play that they'd seen the night before and a dog walker who had absolutely no time to even say hi since the dogs had all seen a squirrel and were practically dragging him along behind them as they went after it.

He ate the first hotdog, and leaned back and closed his eyes, feeling the rain soak his hair and face but enjoying it. He'd have to dry off before he went home, or he'd have to suffer through a well-deserved lecture from his mother – or worse, Alexis – but right now there was no one to tell him what to do and when he had to do it. Which was a pleasant change from the hospital.

"Richard Castle…"

He opened his eyes and saw a man standing in front of him. A man he didn't know. Nothing new there, really, since he saw lots of people he didn't know in New York. And a lot of them knew him – at least knew who he was. It was part of being famous. He started to smile, thinking maybe it was a fan, but there was an odd look in the man's expression and a slightly off-kilter glint in his eyes. He was also sweating, although the day was far from warm.

"Can I help you?"

The man was staring at him, almost possessively, and Castle frowned. Before he could say anything. Though, the man shook his head.

"You must have some kind of guardian angel looking over your shoulder, Mr. Castle… it's not everyone who can crash into the middle of nowhere and come out unscathed."

Hardly unscathed, Castle thought, but he didn't say it. Something was definitely odd about the man, and his expression was so overwhelmingly _wrong _that Castle was immediately on edge with him.

"I got lucky," he said, when it was clear the man was waiting for a reply. "It-"

"You were _supposed _to die. You and that cop, both."


	31. Chapter 31

"Castle? Yeah, he was in here about 45 minutes ago. I expect him back in an hour or so, probably."

"Where'd he go?"

"Went to get a hotdog." He pointed left, even though they were inside. "There's a vendor that sets up by the big rock over in the park. He said he was going to go there…"

Beckett nodded.

"Thanks for the help."

"Any time. Tell him I need about another hour or so, will ya?"

"Sure."

The detectives turned and left, heading toward the park, which was virtually deserted in the rain. Unfortunately the vendor had decided that it was too deserted to warrant sticking around, and he had left, leaving the detectives with two different directions to choose from.

"Left or right?" Esposito asked, looking down the paths.

"You guys go left, I'll go right," Beckett told them. "Keep in touch and radio if you find him."

"Be careful," Ryan said.

"You, too."

OOOOOOOOOO

Castle frowned.

"What?"

The man in front of him looked agitated. Castle was wracking his brain trying to figure out if he knew him but he didn't look familiar. Brown hair, brown eyes and probably five foot ten, he was about as average as a person Castle could ever have imagined. Except for that slightly maniacal glint in his eyes.

"You never should have survived the crash."

" I don't understand what you're talking about," he told the man, genuinely confused. "What-"

"_You should have died!"_ the guy snapped, interrupting. "I can't believe you didn't slam into a tree and kill yourself – _and _Nikki Heat."

Castle leaned forward, suddenly almost as intent as the stranger.

"You had something to do with the plane crash?"

"I had _everything_ to do with the plane crash," the man corrected him. "_Everything_!"

"But why-"

"We're going to _finish_ this, Castle," came another interruption. "_You're _going to call Nikki and tell her to come down here – alone – and we're going to finish this."

Like that was going to happen? There was no way in hell Castle was going to do that – especially since the guy was so clearly freaked out. He shook his head, trying to buy some time to figure out what to do.

"Well, I'd like to call… _Nikki_… but some _douche bag_ messed with my airplane and made me crash into the water, where my cell phone was ruined. I couldn't call her if I wanted."

There was suddenly a vein standing in the man's forehead and Castle was pretty sure he was going to attack him, which was sort of what he'd been trying to provoke. The guy wasn't _that _big, really, and even as beat up as he felt, they were probably fairly evenly matched. At least he'd be able to hold his own until someone saw what was going on and hopefully called for help.

It didn't happen. The man reached into his pocket and pulled a gun – and suddenly things went from odd and a little scary to incredibly serious.

"Use mine."

The other hand reached into a different pocket and pulled out a cell phone, which he tossed over to Castle, who caught it automatically, but shook his head.

"I don't know the number."

"Don't lie to me, Castle! Call her and tell her to come down here or I'll kill you."

"Why are you doing this?"

"_Do it!"_

Castle looked down at the phone in his hand and flipped it open. He dialed the number by heart and looked up at the man as he waited for it to be answered. A moment later he heard a man's voice.

"Montgomery."

Castle looked to see if the man could hear the voice over the rain, which was falling even harder than it had been. There was no change in his expression, but his eyes narrowed as he decided Castle was stalling. Castle held up his hand, asking silently for patience.

"Hi, it's Castle…"

"Castle?" the confusion in his voice was understandable. Castle had never actually needed to call the captain on his cell before. "Where are you? The report from the-"

"I'm down at the park." He interrupted. He hesitated, looked at the man, and made a decision. "Trace this cell number and you'll find a man who says he sabotaged our plane. It-"

The hand with the gun lashed out, striking Castle just above the ear with the barrel, and he fell backward against the bench, feeling the phone being jerked out of his hand in the same instance.

"You _idiot_!" the phone was thrown to the side, and the man grabbed the collar of Castle's shirt and pulled on it. "Get up. Now!"

Reeling from the blow, he didn't struggle. The man pushed Castle ahead of him, looking around nervously.

"Where are we going?" Castle asked, hoping that the phone was still on and Montgomery was listening.

"Shut up, Castle, and keep moving."

Castle, however, pulled up short, and the man almost ran into him from behind.

Standing in the middle of the path was Kate Beckett.

OOOOOOOOOOO

His first try was to Beckett. She didn't answer the phone. The second person he called was Esposito, who picked up on the second ring.

"Esposito."

"Where are you?"

It was Montgomery.

"In the park, looking for Castle."

"Is Beckett with you?"

"She's here in the park. We split up."

"Find her. I think her and Castle are in trouble."

Esposito nodded, looking over at his partner, who was watching intently.

"We're on it." He hung up the phone and spoke before Ryan could say anything. "We need to find Beckett. Let's go."


	32. Chapter 32

_Author's note: So I know it's rated T, but I figured I better give you a heads up that there is some bad language in this chapter. Just in case you have any younger kids reading it that might be sensitive to the language._

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett had her gun out, but it wasn't pointed at anyone, since she wasn't exactly sure what was going on. She was pretty sure she'd never seen the guy with Castle, but she knew she didn't know _everyone _that he hung out with_. _ Every instinct she possessed was screaming at her, however, as she looked at the man who had one hand hidden behind Castle's back and a look in his eyes that made her almost bring the gun up – except that Castle was in the way.

"Who's your friend, Castle?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "We haven't really done full introductions." As he was speaking, he brought his right hand up and circled his finger around his ear a few times in the international sign that the guy was a loony. Just in case she missed that, he mouthed the word _psycho_ while he was doing it.

She'd seen them walking up the path, but there was something wrong about the way Castle was walking so stiffly – even injured as he was. Not to mention the expression on his face that had nothing to do with his ribs hurting him.

"Lose the gun, Detective," the man told her, suddenly, taking a step sideways from Castle and brandishing an automatic pistol. It gleamed with the same dull gray as the color of the sky. "Now."

She hesitated, her hand tightening automatically on the grip of her sidearm, and he moved his arm and pointed the gun at Castle.

"Do it _now _or I'll kill him."

"He's probably going to anyway," Castle told her. "Don't do it."

The man glared, but didn't look away from Beckett, well aware that she was the dangerous one just then.

"Shut up, Castle."

Beckett didn't really have a choice. She carefully tossed her gun to the side, far enough away that he wouldn't think it was a trick.

"Who are you?" she asked him, stalling.

"Lift your shirt and turn around."

Proving that while Castle thought he was crazy – and she definitely agreed – he was thorough. Crazy didn't always mean stupid, she knew. She raised her shirt enough to prove to him that she didn't have a backup gun tucked into her waistband and then turned in a slow pirouette to show there wasn't one in the back, either. Satisfied, the man pushed Castle over to her, and pointed the gun at both of them, now.

"I thought you promised me you were going to be careful?" she told Castle as he panted beside her, his ribs obviously hurting him from the rough treatment. She also saw a bloody smear on the side of his head, coming from a wound above his ear and wondered what had caused it.

"I promised to watch for _falling pianos_," he reminded her. "Do you see any falling pianos?"

"Shut up!"

"What do you want?" Beckett asked him, using her best hostage negotiation voice and expression to try to keep things from escalating.

"I want what he took from me," came the reply. The gun wavered between Beckett and Castle, and the look of insane hatred in his expression told her that this wasn't going to end well – for someone.

"What-"

"You killed him!" the gun was now pointed only at him. "You _killed_ him!"

Castle was surprised by the sudden fury, and totally confused.

"What?" that was the last thing he really expected to hear. "Who?"

"My brother."

"I don't know what you're ta-"

"_Derrick Storm_, you sonofabitch! You _killed_ him and then you replaced him with this bitch!"

Castle bristled immediately.

"Hey! That's-"

"Shut up!"

"Castle…"

Beckett didn't care what the guy called her. He was obviously working himself up and she wanted to do anything she could to stop it from happening. She'd seen people on drugs acting like this, and some who _weren't_, but this guy was obviously obsessed and there was no one who was harder to reason with than someone like that.

"Shut _up_!" Now the gun was pointed at Beckett, and she held both hands away from her body to let him know she wasn't going to do anything.

"At least tell us your _name_," Beckett requested. "We-"

"_He_ knows my name," the man snapped at her, gesturing with the gun at Castle. "We used spend hours together talking about what the next adventure would be." He glared at Castle with hatred. "Not anymore though, right? Now it's all about her, isn't it? _Nikki Heat_. What were you thinking? She's nothing compared to Derrick! _Nothing_. Look at her. An over-sexed whore with a gun…"

He trailed off, giving Beckett a hate-filled look, but then his peripheral vision caught a motion at the same time Beckett and Castle saw it as well. Coming over a small rise at a full run were Esposito and Ryan, both with their guns out.

"_Damn it!" _

The gun swung at Beckett and she took an involuntary step backward, knowing that his hand had just been forced and he was done talking. Castle had obviously realized the same thing.

"No!"

She felt Castle crash into her and at the same moment she heard the first shot – so close that there was no doubt what gun it came from. Five more were fired in rapid succession as she fell, Castle's weight on her and pulling her down.

"_Beckett_!" That was Esposito's voice, but she couldn't get turned around under Castle's weight to warn him about the gun. Not that he needed it. She heard other shots, from further away, and managed to wriggle out from under Castle at the same time a body fell lifelessly to the grass only a few feet away.

The same moment she realized that Castle was groaning and not getting up when she did.

"Castle!" Leaving the dead gunman to Esposito and Ryan, she dropped down beside him. He was on his side; eyes closed tight, one arm clutching his chest and face pale with pain. His breathing was shallow, and blood was oozing into the grass under him.


	33. Chapter 33

_Author's note: You guys are in luck. I have time to write out the next chapter and not leave you in suspense for too long._

OOOOOOOOOO

"Oh, no… oh, no…" she reached over and took his shoulder to turn him over and he yelped in such agony that she pulled her hand back. It came away bloody.

"Please don't touch me," he gasped, breathlessly. "Please…"

"Easy, Castle," Esposito said, noting the blood on the side of his head and the blood on Beckett's hand. "This is going to hurt."

In the background, Beckett could hear Ryan calling an ambulance and other backup, but she couldn't focus on that while she watched Esposito rip open Castle's shirt to start first aid. He swore, and did a double take.

"He's wearing a vest!"

"What?" Beckett looked down and saw that Castle did, indeed, have a vest on. But it wasn't a bulletproof vest. "It's a _flak jacket_," she said, feeling a surge of hope go through her. "To protect his ribs, I bet."

Esposito rolled Castle onto his back as carefully as he could, but Beckett saw Castle's face pale even more, and she reached for his hand to apologize for hurting him. It was necessary, though. He squeezed it, but yelped again when Esposito carefully pulled the Velcro straps that secured the vest.

"Will a flak jacket stop a bullet?" Ryan asked.

"A _military_ issue one will," Esposito told him, looking up for only a second before trying to pull the vest open to see if a _medical _one would. "It had to hurt like hell, though."

"Especially with his ribs already killing him," Beckett added. She was watching as the vest opened, revealing the old bruises from the seatbelt of the plane and a couple of nasty looking welts that were obviously fresh. There wasn't any blood, though. At least not on his chest. "Let's roll him."

"No…"

"Sorry, Castle," Esposito apologized, even as he did it. They had to make sure there weren't any wounds on his back, since he'd been turned by the initial shot and might have been less fortunate from behind.

Castle groaned, biting back a curse as he was rolled onto the bloody shoulder, and Esposito slid his hand under the vest since he couldn't get the shirt all the way open and pull the vest completely off. When he pulled his hand back there wasn't any blood on it, and Beckett nodded.

"Let's roll him back."

"I'll give you a million dollars to not touch me again," Castle whispered, his face now pale, and tremors shaking him so hard that Beckett knew he was going into shock.

"Stay with us, Castle," she told him as Ryan and Esposito both pulled off their jackets to cover him up and protect him from the driving rain as she rolled him back onto his back. "Help's on the way."

He didn't reply, and she pressed tightly on the wound on his shoulder to staunch the blood that was flowing freely – and making a nasty mess of things when it mixed with the rainwater that was soaking them all. The one gunshot wound was all they could find – bad, but nowhere near as tragic as it could have been. He'd been lucky.

"Who _is _this guy?" Ryan asked, turning to the dead body.

"No idea," Beckett replied. "Some kind of nut job. You didn't know him, Castle?"

There wasn't any reply. He'd passed out on them. She could feel his heart beating strongly under her hand, though, so she knew he was still alive. In the background sirens were already getting louder. Esposito took advantage of the fact that he wasn't feeling anything just then and got his shirt off, handing it to Beckett so she wasn't pressing on the shoulder wound with her bare hand. The cloth would staunch the bleeding better than her hand – and it would cut back on the chance of infection.

"His name's Thaddeus Dailey," Ryan announced, looking at a license he'd taken from the dead man's wallet. "Lives on 212th street."

"We'll check the place out," Esposito said, as they were suddenly joined by a small army of paramedics and police officers. The medics pushed past Esposito and Beckett to get to Castle's side, and started working on him, which brought him around with another yelp as one of them pulled the vest off.

"Easy, Castle," Beckett told him. She glared at the paramedic who'd hurt him. "Be careful."

"Sorry."

Bandages and medical equipment were all over the place, and Beckett felt someone put a hand under her arm and pull her to her feet. Annoyed, she started to snap at whoever it was that was manhandling her, but was brought up short when she saw it was Captain Montgomery, looking worried as he checked her over for any new injuries.

"You all right?"

She nodded.

"Yeah."

They both watched as the paramedics put Castle on a gurney and covered him warmly, and then took him away.

"How about him?"

"He got lucky," she said, feeling a little light-headed all of the sudden. She must have paled, too, because he frowned and took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She wanted to tell him it wasn't necessary, but the warmth was a comfort and she had a feeling she might have been trying to go into shock, too.

"Esposito? You got an ID on the DB?"

"Yes, sir."

"You and Ryan go and check out his place – see if there's any next of kin to inform. Then meet us down at the hospital."

The two nodded, and Ryan brought over Beckett's gun and handed it to her.

"We'll have the unies bring down Castle's mom and daughter."

Beckett shook her head, wondering how much therapy Alexis was going to need after having her dad back in the hospital only a day after he'd been released.

"Tell them that he's going to be okay."

"We will." He smiled. "It'll be a good story for another day," he told her.

"Why's that?" Montgomery asked.

"Gunman was aiming at _Beckett_," Esposito said. "Castle pushed her out of the way and took the bullet."

Montgomery raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. Beckett didn't look like she was up to discussing it.

"Meet us at the hospital," he repeated, gesturing for Beckett to follow him. He waited until they were out of earshot. "If they release you, you can follow up on the DB if you want."

"Thank you, sir."


	34. Chapter 34

Thaddeus Dailey lived in a five-floor walk-up. It wasn't the nicest neighborhood, but it wasn't a slum, either, being tenanted by mostly hard working families and singles with decent paychecks but nothing too outrageous. The halls were clean and even better they _smelled _clean, too. The manager of the building told them that Dailey lived alone and commented that he'd never seen him have company, but that the guy also stayed out of sight, mostly, so he wasn't a hundred percent sure of that. He was planning on taking them up and letting them into the place, but a harried looking woman with a screaming toddler in her arms entered his office just then, so he just handed them the key to the apartment and asked them to remember to lock it up when they were done.

Esposito unlocked the door, while Ryan covered him. Not that they really expected any trouble, but you never knew with weirdoes, and that was a lesson most cops learned before they were even allowed on the street. They opened the door carefully, looking for any kind of wires or other indications that there might be a booby trap waiting for them, but it looked pretty clear, and Esposito nodded for his partner to go.

Ryan entered first, turning on the light because it was dim, but stopped almost immediately, looking around.

"Wow…"

It wasn't an alarmed sound, and Esposito joined him only a moment later and shook his head.

"This place is nuts."

It was, too. The room was dark. The windows were covered in heavy black curtains that were nailed against the walls to keep even a sliver of light from entering. There was a futon that was folded down into a bed, unmade and piled with far more blankets than the weather would indicate a need for, but not much else for furniture. A modest TV sat on an old entertainment center, but the dust that was layered on it made it apparent that it wasn't used very often.

"Look at that," Ryan said, pointing to the wall to their right.

It was a shrine. Neither of them could think of any other word for it. Pictures of Castle were everywhere. Newspaper clippings, articles from magazines, pictures from book signings and a couple that were clearly taken off the Internet and printed out and framed. A stack of Castle's books cluttered the small stand below the pictures and next to them was a picture of Thaddeus Daily with Castle's arm around him, both smiling at the camera and looking like the best of friends.

"Castle said he didn't know him," Esposito said, picking up the picture and looking at it.

Ryan looked over his shoulder.

"Looks photo-shopped. My sister did that one time with a picture of Johnny Depp. Made them look like they were kissing."

"Eww."

"I know."

"So this guy worships Castle…" Esposito said, looking at the photo again. Even in it there was a gleam in his eyes that just wasn't right. "What's he _shooting _at him for?"

"He was shooting at _Beckett_," Ryan reminded him, leaving his partner's side and looking around. "Castle just got in the way…" he trailed off, looking into the bedroom. "_Or _maybe not."

The tone of his voice brought Esposito to his side right away, and they both stopped at the threshold of the room.

"Someone wasn't a happy camper…" Esposito muttered.

"No."

This room was pretty much the Anti-Castle shrine. There were pictures of Castle that had been ripped up or mutilated in other ways, framed and then hung. Pictures of Castle with Beckett from articles and the Internet – also torn, or scribbled on – and a couple piles of ashes that led them to suspect pictures had been burned. A single picture of Beckett was framed, but there was a fairly graphic statement written across it – one that neither of them wanted her to ever see.

Instead of a bed, there was a single long table with a wooden stool. It was littered with pieces of metal in various stages of being soldered and several small devices that looked like they could be timers. Esposito looked through a stack of papers that were also on the table and shook his head. There were printed pages that Dailey had probably pulled off the Internet, with step-by-step instructions on how to make a timed explosive device.

"We'd better get some lab guys down here," he said as they both left that room and did a quick search through the rest of the place just to make sure no one was there. It was obviously a justified shoot, but the more evidence they had the better and they both knew it. Luckily, the contents of the bedroom were all anyone would ever need.

They locked the place back up and headed downstairs to talk to the manager again.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The doctors were thorough when they checked out Beckett. They always were when it came to dealing with police officers – something that she usually appreciated, since it showed that they wanted them to be at their best before they were pronounced fit to leave – but it was annoying this time, when all she wanted was to check on Castle and see how he was doing. Finally they announced that she was no worse off than she had been when she'd been released from their care only days ago, and advised to take the rest of the day – and the next – off. She got dressed, but as she was leaving, she was accosted by Captain Montgomery, who had been waiting to hear how she was doing and to get a complete report on what had happened.

That had taken longer than it should have to, but it was interesting. She hadn't known that Castle had called Montgomery right before the shooting, and wondered what the story was behind it, since Castle hadn't had a cell phone of his own at that time. Montgomery told her what he knew, she told him what she had witnessed, and what had been said, leaving nothing out and using the same inflections that Dailey had.

Finally the captain nodded and put away his pen and folder.

"You'll need to write up a report to go along with Esposito and Ryan's, but it can wait until later. Take the rest of the day off and _try _to stay out of trouble."

She started to protest, but realized he was teasing her, and she smiled instead.

"Yes, sir."

He stood up, well aware what her next stop was going to be.

"When you see Castle, tell him I said he's not allowed to cause me any more headaches for at _least_ a week."

"I'll do that."

He left, and she went in search of Castle.

OOOOOOOO

He was in a private room – not the same one that he had been, but one that was set up for just one person. They hadn't needed to do more than take the bullet out of his shoulder, which according to the doctor she spoke with hadn't been that complicated, so he hadn't been put into recovery this time. His ribs were sore, but no worse off than they had been – although he had bruises of practically every color of the rainbow on his chest, now – and they weren't planning on keeping him more than a day or two for observation. She wondered if they were also hoping to keep the media circus from getting out of hand this time, too, since she hadn't seen any press in the hospital.

There was a guard on the door – no big surprise – but he waved her in with a smile and she tapped lightly on the door, warning them that she was coming in.

Castle was sitting upright in the bed, held there by a cushion of a half dozen pillows, with Alexis sitting on the edge of it and Martha sitting in a neatly upholstered chair on the other side. They all smiled when she entered, and she was relieved to see that he looked a lot better than he had. It helped that he'd managed to get some color back and he wasn't bleeding all over her, of course.

"Detective Beckett," he greeted her with a smile – slightly pained, but authentic enough that it reached his eyes and lit them up. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Castle." She smiled a greeting to Alexis and Martha, and came over to his bed as well. The arm was in a sling, and he was wearing surgical scrubs instead of the regular hospital gown that he might normally been dressed in. "How about you?" She wanted to ask him more than that, but couldn't get it out. He saved her by flashing another smile.

"All things considered, I'm good."

He looked like _he _wanted to say more, but he hesitated, too, and they stood there looking at each other for a long moment, until a knock at the door made them both jump.

Ryan stuck his head into the room, looking around and not surprised to see Beckett there.

"Hey. Can we come in?"

"Did you bring me _food_?" Castle asked.

"No."

"Will you later?"

"Yeah."

"Then by all means, come in."


	35. Chapter 35

Esposito and Ryan walked in and nodded a greeting to Alexis and Martha before turning their attention to Castle and Beckett. She saw the folder in Ryan's hand and spoke up before they could.

"You went to the guy's place?"

Ryan nodded, glancing over at Martha and Alexis for a moment before turning to Castle, who shrugged and then winced when he hurt his injured shoulder with the motion.

"You can tell us in front of them," he told the detectives. "I'll tell them later, anyway."

"Guy was a _serious _whacko, Castle," Esposito said, taking the file from Ryan and handing it over to Becket, who sat down on the edge of Castle's bed beside Alexis to open it. They both saw a picture of the shooter, which looked like a mug shot without the police trappings included.

"That's him?" Alexis asked.

Beckett nodded as Castle leaned a little to try and get a better look.

"That's him."

"He had all the makings for a timed incendiary device in his bedroom – exactly like the one the FAA report shows was used to bring the plane down – and pictures of you all over the place," Ryan told them. "There's no doubt he's the one who planted it. We're still gathering background on him, but the neighbors we spoke to told us he'd been acting pretty weird lately – even more than usual. The place was plain creepy."

"I don't understand why he'd want dad dead, though…" Alexis said, staring at the picture. "He didn't do anything to him."

"Crazy people like this make things up in their minds," Esposito told her. "The more they dwell on it, the more real it becomes, until it's an obsession. He shows all the signs of having a delusional relationship with your dad…"

"Which ended – in _his _mind – when Castle killed off Derrick Storm," Ryan added.

Beckett looked at him, searchingly, and knew that they'd seen things in the shooter's house that she'd want to know about later, but that they didn't want to mention with Alexis there. Which was fine with her. She thought the girl was better off _not _knowing everything.

"We'll know more later," Esposito said. "But that's the bare bones of it."

"Thanks, guys," Castle told them.

The detectives didn't stay long. They had a report to start, and a lot of follow up. With a promise to return later to chat when they had more time, they left the room, leaving the others in the room mulling over what they'd learned.

"You should go home," Castle told his daughter, suddenly, reaching out with his uninjured arm and taking her hand. "This isn't really the best place for you to spend your day."

She frowned.

"It's where _you _are…"

Which made him smile, his eyes softening the way they only did when he was looking at her, or thinking of her. It made Beckett smile, too.

"And I _love _having you with me, but hospitals are depressing, and filled with hurt and sick people. You're healthy and whole."

"And in _dire _need of a diversion," Martha agreed, standing up. "And so am I. I think we should go shopping."

"But-"

"She's right," Castle agreed. "Take my card and have a good time." He looked at his mother and frowned. "But not _too_ good."

She smiled, and Beckett and Alexis both got up and moved as Martha came over and leaned over her son to kiss his cheek.

"Shopping _and_ spa treatments? What a fine idea, Richard. Thank you."

He didn't even argue. He took her hand with his and squeezed it.

"Have fun, Mother."

"We will, dear."

She waited while Alexis kissed him, too, and then the two of them left.

He looked over at Beckett, who hesitated before coming back over and sitting back on the edge of his bed.

"That goes for you, too…" he said, with a slight groan as he leaned further back into the pillows. His expression was now showing the pain that he'd refused to allow his daughter to see.

Much to his surprise, she slapped his shoulder – the uninjured one – and scowled at him, looking more than a little annoyed.

"That was _dumb_, Castle."

"They're not going to spend _that _much money," he said. "I have-"

"Not that," she interrupted. "Pushing me out of the way. You could have been killed."

He shook his head.

"I had a vest on. You didn't."

"A vest to protect your _ribs_," she snapped. "Not a _bullet-proof_ one. And what if he'd aimed _higher_? You didn't have anything protecting your head."

"_You _didn't have anything at _all_…" he protested. "What was I _supposed_ to do? Just stand there and let him shoot you? Especially since it was me who got you into the whole mess in the first place?"

"This isn't your-"

"He was angry at _me_, Kate," Castle interrupted. "Because _I_ killed off his illusion and replaced it with one of my own. You didn't ask for it, but I did it anyway, and look where it got you. You could have died – in the plane crash, or out in the park – and it would have been all my fault."

She was brought up short, her anger draining out of her at the pain in his expression and voice. Pain that had nothing to do with his ribs, or any of the other injuries he'd taken.

"You really believe that?" she asked.

He looked down, refusing to meet her eyes.

"It's true. Bad enough when I thought the plane crash was an _accident_, but he deliberately tried to make us crash – preferably into a bunch of trees – and –"

"_He_ did it," she interrupted him. "Not you. _Him_. He made the plane crash. _He_ brought a gun into the park with every intention of killing you – and maybe me – but it was all _him_. It wasn't your fault."

"I-"

"You can't _make_ people do bad things, Castle," she told him. "They _choose_ what they do. I see it all the time. The only people responsible for the evil that is done in the world are those who are _doing_ it. No one else."

She stood up, and he finally looked up at her.

"You're smart enough to know that once you stop to think about it," she told him, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly for a moment before letting it go. "But don't you _ever_ try to take a bullet for me again. Understand?"

He nodded, mutely, and she hesitated for only a moment before leaning over and kissing him, tenderly. Blushing just a little, she offered a slight smile when she pulled back.

"I'll see you later."

He nodded again, and she left before he could say anything else.


	36. Chapter 36

**_Epilogue_**

The water was hot, filling the bathroom with the steaming smell of jasmine and vanilla, and accentuating the calm of the dimly lit room. It matched perfectly the mood of Kate Beckett, who entered the room wearing a fluffy white bathrobe and carrying a glass of wine in one hand and a small stack of CDs in the other. She set the glass down on the small stand that she'd placed next to the tub, and put the CDs into the player that was mounted to the wall on the other side of the room. She took a deep breath, enjoying the fact that there was nothing she had to do, and a whole evening to do it. Which to her meant that she was going to settle in the tub with the wine and the music and let the last two weeks fade away. Something she always did when she needed to unwind.

She dipped her hand in the water to make sure it was still really hot – the way she liked it best – and was untying the belt on the robe when the sound of her doorbell resounded through the apartment.

"Damn it…"

She hesitated, debating whether she really needed to answer the door, or if she should just ignore it. And pretend she wasn't home.

The bell rang again.

Grumbling about shooting someone if the building wasn't on fire, she tightened the belt on her robe once more and headed for the door. A quick glance through the peek hole made her frown, and she opened the door quickly.

"What are _you _doing here?"

Castle hesitated at the door, uncertain about her abrupt reception. One arm was in the sling, which extended all the way along his arm to cover his hand where the support went back up and over his other shoulder, and the other was filled with the teddy bear that she'd left with him when she'd been released from the hospital. Not only did she look mad at him – and he wasn't sure what it was he'd done this time – but she wasn't really dressed.

Which wasn't such a bad thing, though, as far as he was concerned.

"I… brought your bear back."

"When did you get released from the hospital?"

"This morning." He flashed an uncertain smile, still not sure if – or why – she was mad at him, but deciding that he'd interrupted her evening plans. She was too levelheaded to still be mad at him for the bullet thing, after all. "By the way, you don't need to pick me up tomorrow…"

She smiled, amused despite her annoyance at being pulled away from her bathtub. Besides, she had to admit it was good to see him on his feet again. He still looked like crap, but he was on his feet. _Kind of_.

"Come in," Beckett told him, moving out of the doorway so he could go by her. She watched him walk, noting that he was moving a bit stiffly as if his ribs were still aching, but that he didn't wince when he brushed against the door itself. Of course, his ribs would be tender for a week or two – ribs took a long time to heal, she knew – but she also knew that he'd been given some pretty good painkillers to counter it. Which might be why he was crazy enough to be out and about the day he was released from the hospital. He probably wasn't feeling any pain

"Thanks."

"Does your mother know where you are?" she asked him.

"Yes."

"Really?"

He rolled his eyes, more amused than annoyed.

"Yes. And she _let_ me come."

"And she's not worried…?"

He made a face.

"She made me promise to call when I got here."

Beckett grinned.

"You do that, then. I'm going to go change."

He allowed his gaze to slowly wander from her head to her toes and back up again, lingering somewhere under her chin for the briefest of moments before he met her eyes again.

"Don't do it on my account."

"Go sit down, Castle. Call your mom and let her know her crazy son is alive and well." She took the bear from him and set it in a chair in the living room. "Do you want something to drink?"

"A beer?"

"With the medications you're taking?" she asked. "Not a chance. I have juice, water and a couple of diet sodas."

"Spoilsport."

"Someone has to look out for you," she pointed out, as she headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Are you wearing the vest?"

He shook his head, following her and looking over her shoulder.

"No. I'm just being careful not to bump into anything. Can I have that apple juice? Or are you waiting to see if that old pizza is going to evolve and drink it first?"

"I haven't had time to clean out the fridge," she told him, defensively, handing him the juice and shutting the door to the fridge before he could make any more smart comments. "Are you going to call your mom?"

"Will you stay in the robe?"

"No."

She left him in the kitchen and went into her bedroom, closing the door firmly before dropping the robe and changing into a pair of pajama bottoms and a flannel pullover. When she returned, he was sitting on the couch and just putting his phone away.

"She says you are to make sure I don't do anything stupid."

"Good luck with that."

He smiled and tried to open his juice by holding it between his knees and using the hand not caught up in the sling to twist off the top. It wasn't working very well. She took it from him and opened it, and then joined him on the couch.

"You remember those nightmares?" he asked, turning to face her and looking a little smug considering the question he'd just asked.

She frowned. They weren't really something she'd forget in only a week.

"Yeah. What about them?"

"I figured them out."

"What?"

"You were worried about me."

"Yeah. So? You were hurt."

"Right, but you had the one the night of the plane crash – before I took the swim that really hurt my ribs – and _that _means that you were worried about me even before you knew I was hurt."

"What?"

"I told you that the change of course shouldn't have made the controls black out like they did, and somewhere in that magnificent detective brain of yours, you already had some kind of suspicion that there was something else going on besides a plane crash."

"But-"

"And then, once we were found, you knew that the danger was still there – only that now there was a lot more than could go wrong, since we were in the city where anyone could have a gun – and that's why your dream went from me being killed in the plane crash to me being shot. You weren't even positive that it was me that was the target, which is why your dream assassin guy pointed the gun at you, first."

"You're giving me a lot of credit, Castle…" she told him, uncertainly. It actually made sense, but there was a lot of reaching, too, and she wasn't ready to admit that it sounded like he might know what he was talking about. It was also a little disconcerting to think that he understood her so well. "I-"

"It was all subliminal," he reminded her. His smile lingered, though. "But the more you think about it, the more amazing it is, huh?"

"Kind of _creepy_, really," she corrected. "You _did_ get shot, after all."

"But I didn't die."

"No."

"_And_ I saved your life."

"No you didn't."

The denial was automatic.

"I took a bullet for you. Almost took _five_. How is that not saving your life?"

"He might have missed."

"Five times?"

"Maybe. You don't know."

"Fine. But I got us rescued."

"They would have found us eventually. Besides, you were the one that needed the medical help more than I did – which means you got yourself rescued. It's just a bonus that they found me, too."

"Bonu-"

"Castle." she interrupted him before he could say whatever smart-assed comment he was going to use to annoy her, and brushed her finger lightly against his lips to keep him quiet. "You really were amazing."

He smiled, his eyes locking with hers, even as he blushed a little at the unexpected compliment.

"Thanks."

She nodded.

"Thank you. For everything. Really. And if you tell anyone I said that, I'll kill you. Understand?"

His eyes lit up with good humor even before his smile broadened.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

"Now… about that romantic interlude…"

She smiled.

"That was just to keep your spirits up."

"Really?"

"Yes."

He leaned toward her a little, setting the juice down and taking her hand before she could move it, although his grip wasn't firm enough to hold her if she didn't want him to. She didn't pull away though.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Definitely."

Her voice didn't sound nearly as certain as her words did, however, and she didn't even realize she was leaning closer to him until her free hand landed on his leg to keep herself from overbalancing and maybe hurting him by falling against him.

He chuckled, softly, and kissed her.

Beckett sighed, giving herself up to the moment, and leaned into him just a little more, careful not to touch him like she wanted to so she wouldn't hurt him. It _wasn't _going to be more than a kiss, and they both had to know it. Not with his ribs screaming at him every time he moved too suddenly. All the pain medication in the world wasn't going to be able to change that.

He groaned and broke the kiss, before he allowed himself to do something that he knew would truly be stupid. She chuckled, and cuddled up beside him on the couch, bringing his arm around her so he was holding her like he had when they'd been alone in the woods.

"This is nice," he said, softly, brushing a kiss against her hair.

"Yeah."

"Can I go to the next convention you're going to attend?"

She smiled.

"We'll see."

**_The END_**

OOOOOOOOOOOO

_Author's note: Well, there it is. My very first Castle story. I have to admit I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'm sure some of you wanted me to continue it, but it finished the story of their trip and that was really what this one was all about. If I went any deeper on this one, it would definitely belong on an adult fanfiction site (which I actually did post a very brief story on, hehe) but wouldn't belong here. I really do appreciate all the reviews and comments, and I might write another one, although I doubt that this will turn into a series. (I know I said that once about the Campers series for those SG-1 fans that read my work) but this time I probably mean it. Thanks for being such good fans!_


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